


Shadows Between

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Abduction, F/M, Insanity, corruption of characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-29
Updated: 2010-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:34:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darkness is descending on the land, and Hogwarts is seen as its last bastion of hope. But what happens if the shadows are starting to move between the stones themselves?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was getting late, too uncomfortably close to curfew. Ever since the last Hogsmeade attack, students were more or less confined to school grounds. The curfew allowed students access to some facilities, but still forced them to return to the common rooms and their dorms for safety. Dumbeldore was taking no chances with his students. Some grumbled at first. The second Hogsmeade attack, more violent and terrifying than the first, silenced the last few complaints. Death Eaters were wild and unpredictable, and murderous to boot. Many shops in Hogsmeade were closing down for safety anyway, and protective wards were common. It was becoming slowly more hostile; too few people knew who to trust anymore.

Ginny Weasley hurriedly tossed books, parchment and quills into her knapsack. If she wanted to make it to Gryffindor Tower in time for curfew, she would have to hurry. She gathered the last few texts into her arms. If she had noticed the time earlier, she could have repacked her bag neatly. As it was now, she could only hope her last few quills wouldn't be broken beyond repair. Reparo could only fix so much, after all.

Ginny took off from the library at a run. After the major hallways would be the stairs. If she gathered a good enough speed, she could probably take the stairs even three at a time. Then she would definitely be in the common room on time. If only the boys hadn't all insisted on playing Exploding Snap. One game was fine, but there had been ten separate games going on at once, and it had utterly ruined her concentration. She wanted to get a little ahead in Potions so that she could spend her weekend going over Herbology. There was a test in two weeks, but she had put off studying so far. She had a lot of catching up to do.

Ginny rounded the corner and ran smack into Draco Malfoy, who was doing Prefect rounds in the hall. Ginny fell, and the books in her arms went flying. Her knapsack fell open as well. She could see that one of her quills had snapped in half. Ginny winced and rubbed her elbow. "I'm sorry!" she cried, looking up. She hadn't gotten a good look at who she had bumped into. "I was trying to get back before curfew!"

Draco watched as the horror slowly dawned on the littlest Weasley's face. He had spent a good portion of the year making her brother's life miserable, as well s the other Gryffindor seventh years. He hadn't really taken notice of Ginny before, except as the shadow on the periphery of Harry Potter's golden circle. He had thought it interesting that she wasn't truly part of their little group, even with Ron as her brother. He had noticed the looks Neville Longbottom had shot her since sixth year, but it had apparently gone nowhere. Draco hadn't been terribly surprised. Ginny was turning out quite lovely, and could get better than Longbottom.

"Five points from Gryffindor for attempting to knock down a Prefect," Draco drawled. He almost smiled when he saw Ginny pale.

"But I didn't..."

"You'd better hurry. Five minutes to curfew. Even running, I don't think you'll make it. Shall I take another five points for not getting back on time?"

Draco watched as Ginny reddened and hurriedly collected her books. He was surprised to see they were all in potions, with parchment slips in several places in each book. He wasn't too shocked with the broken quill. "Can't afford any new quills, Weasley? I'm shocked. I would've thought even your family could afford bargain quills."

Face flaming with anger, Ginny got to her feet. "Sod off, Malfoy. _You_ broke this quill when you made me fall!"

Draco arched a brow. "Insulting a Prefect, now? I should take off points for that." He strode forward, cornering Ginny against the wall. "Or should I think of a more fitting punishment for that tongue of yours?"

She was actually quite pretty when flushed, Draco decided.

"You're sick," Ginny snapped. She kept her hand on her wand, just in case Draco tried something. The twins had taught her plenty more hexes after they heard her Bat Bogey Hex had done such a wonderful job.

"Punishment or points, Weasley. Your choice."

"Then dock the points and let me go. I have to get back to the Tower."

Draco only grinned. "You're already past curfew, little girl. Shall I show you why we have a curfew?" he asked, voice suggestive. He was pushing in closer, invading Ginny's space. Draco could smell her scent, a faint lavender, and wondered if she would still smell like it when tumbled beneath him.

"You stay away from her!"

Draco and Ginny both turned toward the trembling voice. It was Neville Longbottom, wand drawn and looking as though he was about to be sick.

"Aw... Longbottom thinks he can defend his little girlfriend from the big, bad Slytherin," Draco said, smirking. He was fully aware that he had Ginny caught against the wall between his arms. It was a very intimate position to be in. "Only.... She's not your girl, is she? She's too smart to be caught up with a loser like you, no prospects, no future, nothing to offer a girl."

Neville's face was mottled with barely controlled anger. "You take that back, Malfoy!"

"Five points from Gryffindor for being out of bounds after curfew," Draco replied instead. "Now why don't you run along before I take more points?"

"I left the Tower to look for Ginny," Neville said, voice stronger than Draco had ever heard it.

"Please, Neville," Ginny pleaded. "Don't get in trouble because of me."

Ginny had cut off whatever reply Draco would have said. He merely leaned in closer to Ginny, basking in her lavender scent of her. "Go on, Longbottom. You can see you're not wanted. Any girl with any sense won't want you."

But Neville was looking at Ginny. Her eyes were concerned for him, not for herself. Ron would have a fit if he knew Neville was about to leave Ginny behind with Malfoy. But she didn't seem frightened of Malfoy at all, only annoyed. It would be safe enough. Nothing bad could happen; this was Hogwarts, after all.

"All right, Ginny. If you're sure you'll be okay."

"I'm sure," Ginny said with more confidence than she felt. "I'll be up in the Tower soon."

Draco waited until Longbottom was gone before smelling Ginny's hair. More lavender. "Mmm. You smell delicious enough to eat, Weasley."

Her entire body froze, and Draco wondered for a moment if he had gone too far. When Ginny didn't seem to even be breathing, he gently fondled a breast. "Maybe I can forget about you being out of bounds as well."

Now Ginny moved. She shoved Malfoy back with her one free arm and then held out her wand. Her entire body was shaking. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing at, but I won't play it," Ginny said, voice firm. "You stay away from me, Malfoy! Don't even touch me!"

Draco could tell that there was a very real basis for her fear. "What in Merlin's name has gotten into you?"

"Y-you just stay back. No t-touching me!"

Draco blinked in surprise. "Did you think I was going to do something against your will?" It sounded absurd to him, but Draco could see she was still shaking; she couldn't keep her wand steady as it was pointed at him.

"Don't pretend!" Ginny spat. "Tom said the same thing!"

Now Draco was confused. "Tom? Tom who? Who are you talking about?"

If anything, Ginny went another shade of pale, as though she hadn't meant to reveal as much as she had. "Never mind, just let me pass!"

"I wasn't seriously trying to stop you," Draco said softly, disconcerted by her panic. "You just looked... really pretty when I got you mad."

Ginny's mouth dropped open in shock. "What?"

Draco took a tentative step forward, then reached out for a lock of her hair. "And you smell like lavender. Nice."

Ginny was speechless. This had to be a joke! Taking advantage, Draco pressed closer. "No, stop! Move back!"

Draco flashed Ginny a smile that had often charmed Pansy out of a temper. "What? I'm just smelling your hair." He brought a lock of hair between them. "Nothing scary abut it."

Ginny's lower lip trembled. Draco found it fascinating. Was Tom one of those silly Gryffindors? Draco would have thought that her brother protected her better than that. She had certainly been untouchable before. "What game are you playing, Malfoy? What do you want from me?"

Draco dropped her hair and traced the curve of her jaw. Ron would have a fit once she told him. It would probably provoke a fight in the Great Hall. And if it earned Ron a detention, and maybe Potter, too, all the better. Draco leaned in close. "Maybe just a little kiss before I send you on your way," he murmured.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why are you doing this? You're supposed to be with Pansy."

Draco's jaw tightened a fraction before he forced it to relax. "Just rumors, Weasley, nothing more."

Ginny moved swiftly, landing a kiss onto Draco's cheek. "There. There's your kiss. Now I need to go..."

Draco laughed, and caught Ginny as she turned in his arms. "Do you think I'm some big, bad wolf? Hm? Are you Little Red Riding Hood?" Draco nipped Ginny's earlobe with his teeth, and Ginny yelped with surprise. "That was no kiss, Little Red. I want the real thing."

"Malfoy, just stop it!" Ginny cried, shaking herself out of his grip. "Leave me alone! Go play the joke on someone else!"

The twit thought he was teasing her. He couldn't believe it. Here he was, actually being honest for a change, and she didn't believe him. No real surprise there, but he had thought she was different. That brother of hers... Draco grabbed the back of her head and brought her in for a crushing kiss. At Ginny's gasp of shock, he brought his tongue to hers. Ginny froze in some half remembered fear, and Draco moved in closer, deepening the kiss. Even in fear, Ginny was more alive than Pansy ever was.

When he broke the kiss to breathe, Ginny was stunned. She could feel her grip on her textbooks loosening, and watched helplessly as they fell from her fingers. Draco was smirking at her. "That good, hm?" Draco stepped in close, the scent of lavender making him feel almost lightheaded. So was this what the honesty thing was all about? Red hair, brown eyes and the scent of lavender. If so, he had to try it more often. "Maybe another kiss, then."

Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but only a squeak came out. She was confused. Wasn't Malfoy evil? Didn't he hate Weasleys? Hadn't he shouted at Ron that he would get even someday?

As Draco's lips closed over hers, Ginny suddenly understood. Even if Draco enjoyed this now, he was counting on her telling Ron about it. And if she did, Ron would explode, and he and Harry would likely challenge Malfoy to a duel. Both of them were wound so tight due to Death Eater activity, so very little made them snap with anger and anxiety.

But Draco's kiss was like sin, and Ginny found herself moaning, leaning into the kiss. Her hands found their way into his hair, and her tongue fought his. When their kiss broke, they stared at each other for a long moment.

"And you thought you wouldn't like my punishment," Draco said with a smirk. "Now what do you think?"

Ginny swallowed, aware she was still subject to Draco's rather mercurial moods. "Not bad at all."

Draco arched an eyebrow. "Not bad? Is that all you can say? I'll be you've never been kissed like that before. I'll bet even if I never kissed you again, someone like Longbottom will never measure up to me."

Ginny's eyes flashed. "You leave Neville alone!"

Draco leaned in close to Ginny's ear, and his breath was hot and ticklish. "He worships you, Weasley. He stares when you're not looking and he wishes he could have you. And the way he stares is like when someone knows it's no use to wish for it, but they can't help but want it anyway."

Ginny shook her head. "It's not like that. Neville's just a friend."

"Oh, you wait and see, Weasley. He wants you, but knows he's not worthy. He knows he's not good enough."

"Neville's a wonderful person! He's got the biggest heart of anyone I know!"

"But a big heart won't leave you panting after his kiss," Draco murmured into her ear. "A big heart won't shag you senseless. You know that. So when you're ready for the real thing, just stay in the library until it's almost curfew, like tonight. I do patrols by here every Wednesday night. Let me catch you up late if you want me," Draco continued, his hand tracing the curve of her wrist. "Little Red, the big, bad wolf can teach you all sorts of new tricks."

With a gasp, Ginny wrenched herself free. But as Draco thought, there was a hint of a blush across the tops of her porcelain cheeks. She responded so beautifully, so wonderfully... And there was something else there, that secret that rendered her vulnerable when he said he'd eat her all up. It made her a wonderful little package he couldn't wait to open.

Smirking, Draco levitated the books back into Ginny's arms. "Just think about it, hm? We're not going anywhere, and nothing around here ever changes."

"Why me?" Ginny whispered. The flush was still in her cheeks, and her lips looked swollen.

_I think you'll be a firecracker in bed,_ Draco thought. But he only smirked and took her arm in a gentlemanly manner. "You'd better get back to the Tower now. You never know what's lurking in these hallways late at night."

"Other than you, I can't imagine what would be dangerous out here," Ginny muttered dryly.

Draco grinned at her openly. "Then it's better to stick with me, Weasley. I'll keep all the shadows away."

Ginny snorted. "You just bring them with you."

Draco only smiled, and let Ginny go at the foot of the stairs leading to Gryffindor Tower. "You're not afraid, are you?"

Ginny clenched her jaw. "Not at all, Malfoy."

"Liar," Draco said with surprising gentleness. He touched her cheek and then dropped a light kiss onto her slack lips. "But that's all right. It wouldn't do to be predictable."

And with that, Draco left. Confused, Ginny watched him go. She touched her lips gently, which still tingled slightly with his kiss. She shook her head, then began climbing the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

***

 

Ginny idly wondered if she was insane. She had dodged both Ron's and Neville's questions the week before. Draco had wanted to intimidate her, wanted her to start a fight between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. He wanted to look innocent. The Trio and Neville had accepted it. Other Gryffindors stated it was just like Malfoy and then went about their business.

But damn him, she wanted another kiss.

And so she had spent the weekend letting Neville tutor her in Herbology, and had dragged her books into the library to study in peace and quiet while the lower forms played games. She let the library slowly empty itself, and she slowly repacked her knapsack. She hadn't told anyone how she had managed to only have one quill to last her until hols. Neville had given her one of his, stammering and flushing all the while.

Something else Draco had been right about.

She looked up in surprise when a packet of quills landed on the table in front of her. Ginny looked up in surprise. She hadn't heard anyone come into the library, only leave, and it was ten minutes to curfew.

Draco grinned at Ginny's open mouthed expression. "Nothing too fancy. But delivering them by owl would have made you answer too many uncomfortable questions."

"Why did you get me quills?" Ginny asked dumbly.

Draco shot her an arrogant smile. "You said I broke your other one last week, Weasley. So I've repaid the damage."

Ginny blinked in surprise and looked up at Draco as she picked up the packet. The quills were better quality than she had been using, and were even nicer than the one Neville had given her. "Thank you, Malfoy."

Draco detected the catch in her voice. He had thought it was a nice peace offering, something that could eventually lead her into a relationship of sorts. After his father's death, all his mother was ever on about was continuing the Malfoy line. As far as Draco was concerned, just because he had a duty to perform didn't mean he had to suffer for it. So far the Weasley girl seemed interesting enough, more so than the insipid Slytherins of his year or the boredom-inducing Ravenclaws. Hufflepuffs were simply out of the question. That only left Gryffindor, but Draco was minding it less and less.

"What is it? Those are perfectly nice quills."

"Too nice, Malfoy. Everyone will think I stole them."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, they're yours now."

Ginny's eyes flashed at him in annoyance. "Fine, then I'll just have to save them for a special occasion."

Draco watched as Ginny gingerly tucked the quills into her knapsack. "I wondered if you would be here."

Ginny flushed, and couldn't meet Draco's eyes. "I am."

"Can't look at me? That'll make snogging difficult."

Ginny's head snapped up, and Draco laughed. He approached her and placed his hand over hers. "So, Little Red... Been thinking of me much?"

The flush deepened. "Of course not!"

Draco leaned in closer, right next to Ginny's ear. "Liar," he whispered. She started, and Draco nearly laughed. But he had really been noticing her in the past week, with something that bordered on obsession. He had seen her before, but barely noted her existence as something other than the littlest Weasley and Potter's shadow. That she had remained a shadow despite her excellent hex casting had amused him at the time. Now, he was grateful for it. Maybe no one would notice her with him. No one would ask annoying questions, and he wouldn't have to examine his motives too closely. The destiny spell he had cast last week had indicated he would meet his match last Wednesday. He had to admit, he usually didn't believe in destiny or any of that Divinations rot. But if Ginny was his destiny, Draco planned to let destiny have its way with him. She was perfect, really. Pureblooded, interesting and beautiful. Well, she wasn't classically beautiful in the way his mother was. But she was lively, with a quick smile that lit up her face and transformed her into something extraordinary.

Giving that up just because she was a Weasley would be stupid.

"But that's all right," Draco whispered, leaning in close. He grasped Ginny's arm and pulled her close, so that their bodies were flush against each other. His other hand snaked to the back of her neck. "I've been thinking about you all week."

"You have?" Ginny squeaked.

"The scent of lavender haunted me night and day," Draco murmured, closing in on her lips. He pressed his lips gently against hers, and felt rewarded when Ginny deepened the kiss. He had done a little reading into the romance novels that Pansy or Millicent had left lying about the common room. It seemed as though girls really only wanted to be told that they were special and loved. Draco could give Ginny that much.

Ginny felt as though she were one of those girls that her mother had warned her about, the ones with the loose morals that let anyone touch them. Sure, she had dated a few boys already, but it had never been anything serious. The moment it seemed to get serious, she left. She was still haunted by the ghost of a dead boy's diary, still could hear him whispering in her nightmares. He would touch her, feeling like ice, and whisper directly into her mind. _What a beautiful little girl you will become, all mine for the taking. I could eat you right up, take your little heart and make it bleed. You're mine, you always will be. You belong in the shadows, little girl, and you'll always belong to me._

Draco's hand slid down her back and rested at the slight curve above her buttocks. He wasn't about to rush this. All important things were worth the effort, and Draco could tell that whatever his relationship with Ginny was going to be depended on his making the right choice. He could feel the frustration within him building, but he could be patient. Right now, his mother's only demand was that he think of the Malfoy line. No deliberate dangerous actions, no ruining himself for the company of good girls. She didn't press, which Draco was grateful for, and only let him know that she expected great things of him. Draco had been tempered somewhat by Narcissa's words, and felt as though he really had no choice in the matter. Pansy had expected to become the next Lady Malfoy, but Draco could never stand being shackled to her in marriage for eternity. He felt either disdain or an almost sisterly affection for her, depending on her behavior. Draco would never be able to live with a shrill and nagging wife.

The littlest Weasley, on the other hand, for all of her temper, amused him. He didn't know why, and didn't understand his reaction. But he wanted that, he wanted her temper and amusement, her smiles and her almost innocent touch.

Ginny broke off the kiss abruptly, gasping for air and not looking at Draco. "I'm not sure this is a good idea," she murmured.

Draco arched an eyebrow at her. "It's just snogging."

"Tell your body that," she snapped.

Draco refused to be embarrassed. "You should be flattered, Weasley. If just a kiss does that to me... Imagine what would happen if you put your mind to it? I'm sure you have a creative imagination, Weasley."

Ginny's cheeks were pink. "You sound awful. Do you even know my name?"

"Ginevra," Draco drawled. "I've seen it on the Prefects roster."

"Then stop calling me Weasley if you snog me. It sounds perfectly awful."

Draco pulled her back to him. "Then you can't just call me Malfoy, little Ginevra. It wouldn't sound right, now would it?"

"Draco," Ginny whispered softly. "This is wrong. I should go."

"Stay," Draco murmured. "Another kiss."

"You don't even like me. You hate my family."

"I could learn to like you, I think. You're very easy to like."

"I noticed you didn't mention my family," Ginny muttered dryly.

"I'd rather not think of you as related to the Weasel."

Ginny grasped Draco's face between her hands. "You'd have to get used to the idea if you're going to keep snogging me, Draco. He'll find out eventually."

"You haven't told him? I'm shocked." Draco turned his head and kissed one of her palms. "It looks like little Ginevra may be keeping secrets from her family."

Ginny went pale. "No, it's not like that...."

Draco licked her palm and let one of his hands stroke her back gently. "So you did at one point? My, my, my... My respect for you has gone up an even larger notch than it already has."

"What are you talking about? Keeping secrets isn't a good thing!"

"So did you tell them what your secret was? Does your family know everything there is to know about you?"

She looked almost ashamed. "No," Ginny murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You didn't tell anyone I kissed you," Draco guessed.

"No," Ginny murmured.

"Now why is that, if keeping secrets is bad?"

Ginny flushed under his piercing gaze. "This wasn't something I wanted to share."

It sounded as though the confession had been dragged out of her. It pleased Draco immensely that she trusted him that much. He kissed her palm again, and then gently moved her hands down to his shoulders. "Good. Because I don't want to share you, either. Keep your secrets, I don't care about it. But I don't want to share you with anyone or anything." Ginny seemed almost dazed by the admission, and Draco smiled. "I never did learn how to share as a child. I don't seem to have the knack for it."

When they kissed again, Ginny couldn't help but press her body against his. The boy knew how to kiss, that was for certain. And while she felt as though she were being watched, it was easy enough to push the feeling aside. Madam Pince was long since gone, and they were in possibly the safest place in all of the British Isles.

What could happen?

***

 

Whatever they were becoming, Ginny didn't know what to call it. There was no term for it, really. What? Snogging buddies? That was silly. But they often met in the library to snog, sometimes to talk. She had never figured Draco would be lonely, not when he was the purported Slytherin Prince. But he always seemed eager for her company, hungry for her touch and longing for the sound of her voice.

The others were starting to notice.

Ron demanded to know if Draco was harassing her. Harry quietly took her aside and made sure she knew he was another brother to her, that she could come to him for anything. Neville asked quietly if she was feeling well, since she was pale or flushed at intervals. Hermione asked if she was worried about exams and needed help revising. Dean finally was speaking to Ginny again, and asked if she needed a bodyguard between classes. Seamus offered to help with the bodyguard duties as well. Colin had asked shyly if she needed to sit with a friend so that she didn't feel alone. Michael had quietly stated he still cared about her, and if she was feeling threatened by Malfoy he would be willing to help. The Patil twins each came to her and gave her advice about self defense.

Luna merely smiled and said they looked cute together.

Ginny found herself alone in the library on Wednesday as usual. She was working on Herbology as the last student left, her Charms and Arithmancy homework done. She couldn't figure out why exactly she continued to wait on Wednesdays. Hols were coming up soon, and she didn't know what would happen. Would he get her a gift? Would he invite her to the Yule Ball? No, that was silly. Of course he wouldn't invite her. She was Gryffindor, and he would need to go with a suitable Slytherin girl. He had his reputation to upkeep.

Draco slid a hand down Ginny's back, startling her from her reading. "I thought I'd start my rounds a little early, Ginny," he murmured. "I do hope you don't mind."

Ginny shook her head. "No, it's all right... I shouldn't always stay out so late. People are noticing you staring at me. They might figure something out."

He smiled, a faint curve of his lips that normally wouldn't be considered a smile. Ginny had been noticing him more and more lately, and that was his amused smile. He touched the edge of her chin in a light caress. "Pack up your books, Ginny. Since technically there's still a half hour until curfew, we'll have to hide. And I know the perfect place."

"Where?" Ginny thought of the Room of Requirement, but didn't know how Draco could know of such a thing.

"I'll show you. It's closer than you think. I usually go there to study when I need to be alone. But I don't mind sharing it with you."

Flattered, Ginny gathered her books in her arms and followed Draco obediently. Right next to the Restricted Section was a half hidden nook with a table and four chairs. A curving stack of books made sure that the entrance was easily dismissed. There was the scent of magic about the nook, making it all but impossible to find unless you already knew it was there.

"I found this third year, when all anyone could do in the common room was talk about Sirius Black. I just needed a little peace and quiet, and then I found this," Draco said, pulling Ginny inside the alcove. "Put your books down."

Ginny piled them carefully on the tabletop and looked around. The shelves inside the nook were filled with fairly ordinary books, nothing overtly dangerous. Some shelves, in fact, carried textbooks from each year. If Ginny studied here, she would never have to actually carry her battered books into the library and haul them back. "It's perfect for studying," she breathed, then turned to look at Draco. "Thank you."

"I thought you'd appreciate it," he murmured, stepping up to her. He tugged on a lock of hair playfully. "Now you don't have to overstuff your bag. And you can leave your quills here if you don't think you can use them in class."

"I've been doing my homework here with them. They write really well," Ginny murmured, then on impulse leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks again."

Draco wrapped his arms around her. He'd been feeling off kilter and moody all day, and his housemates had noticed. He didn't know what to do about Ginny, how he felt or what he wanted from her. His mother had written again, full of concern for him. Apparently Severus Snape had acted in his godfatherly duty and written to Narcissa. Draco had been daydreaming, had seemed almost silent and sullen, as though something were bothering him. Normally Draco would confide in Snape, but lately he hadn't said anything. Snape never passed on any of Draco's confidences, but he normally would at least warn Narcissa if there were subjects best left undiscussed over hols. Usually it revolved around grades, the House Cup or losing to Potter in Quidditch. It was rarely something actually important. Now, Snape was worried about something terrible happening to Draco.

But Draco simply didn't know what he wanted anymore, and didn't know what to do to find out what he did want. He didn't trust Snape to keep this secret; the man's hatred for Gryffindors was legendary. How would he react to Draco's little secret?

Draco kissed Ginny instead, pulling her in tightly so that her body was flush against his. She didn't seem to resist too much, and after a long moment pulled back to breathe. There was a pink flush across her face. Entranced, Draco's hands roamed across her front, caressing her full breasts through her blouse. Why did he like that flush so much? He didn't understand, really. He knew he was willing to wait until Ginny was ready to sleep with him. That was an anomaly. Normally he wasn't this patient. He was willing to concede that this Weasley was possibly special, was possibly worth waiting for. He was willing to concede that perhaps his father wasn't right in all things, and that perhaps the Weasley line wasn't filled with complete morons.

He kissed her again, fiercely, possessively. Ginny broke the kiss, embarrassed. Draco had never indicated that he ever wanted more from her than just kisses, but these two told a different story. He smiled at her, faintly, that pained amused smile. "What is it about you, Ginny?" he whispered, his hand stroking her lower back. "Why can't I get you out of my mind?"

"I don't know. I don't know what this is," she answered in complete honesty. "What do you want it to be?"

"I don't know," Draco murmured. "I just know I want to taste you," he said, pushing her down to sit in a chair. She was shaking her head, slowly. "Yes. Just let me... Maybe I can stop thinking of you in class, and maybe Snape will stop noticing what a swot I've become."

Ginny gasped. "Did he say something? Does he know?"

"No. And he won't. You're my secret, Ginny," Draco said as he knelt in front of her. He kissed her knee and stroked the outside of her thigh through her skirt. "I'm not willing to share you with anyone yet."

"I feel the same way," Ginny gasped. "I can't share you either."

Draco kissed his way up along the inside of her thigh, inching up her skirt. "Why can't I get you out of my head?" he whispered along her skin. He felt her shiver and wondered if she would shiver when she came. He worked his way up to the demure white cotton knickers and nipped at them gently. Ginny gasped, hands tightening on the chair and her entire body tensing up.

"What are you doing?" she asked, frightened.

If anything, the faint edge of fear in her voice was endearing. She really was an innocent, she really was someone he would have to protect. Draco couldn't understand the impulse to protect her. What would he protect her from? Who would dare do her harm? But it made her seem fragile and precious, and he suddenly wanted to make sure that he would be her first. He would treat her right, he would do it gently and reverently. He would give her an experience worthy of her, he would make it special, just for her.

He was turning into a romantic swot, but he didn't mind it in the least.

"I said I wanted to taste you," he murmured against her knickers. "I meant it."

"But..."

Draco looked up into her eyes. "I could never hurt you, Ginny. I could never force you to do what you didn't want. But let me. Let me make you come."

Her lip trembled slightly. "Bad things happened to me before... when I gave up control, bad things happened. I'm afraid of that."

Draco stroked her thighs gently. "I'll take care of you, Ginny, I will."

For some reason, Ginny could tell that he was being honest with her. She tentatively nodded and forced her body to relax. She lifted her hips when Draco pulled her knickers down to her ankles and then completely off of her body. She was otherwise still dressed, and so was Draco. Her roiling stomach calmed a little at that realization. She was nervous, not entirely sure what he had planned, but some of the paralyzing fear was gone. This was Draco, not Tom. Draco kept his word as much as he was able.

Draco tilted Ginny's hips and slid them forward slightly so that she was perched on the edge of the chair. Delicately, he pressed kisses to the insides of her thighs and edged them apart. He knelt between her legs, basking in the scent of her. He kissed his way up to the tangle of curling red hair, then licked the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Emboldened by Ginny's gasp of pleasure, Draco held her hips still and then went in to lick at her clit. Her initial squirms of unease soon turned into mindless bucking beneath his mouth. Her hands were clutching the chair in a white knuckled grip and her back was arching.

Taking a break to delay the inevitable, Draco gently removed her hands from the chair. "Here..." He repositioned them to her own breasts. Her eyes were glazed over in passion, lips parted. She looked absolutely amazing. "Pretend those are my hands on you."

Ducking back beneath her skirt, Draco could imagine her cupping and fondling her own breasts, pinching her own peaked nipples. The scent and smell of her already had gotten him rock hard, and the mental image of that almost made him come. He swirled his tongue around her swollen clit, hearing her throaty moan. Oh yes, she would be a firecracker in his bed, she would be hot for him and would always make things interesting.

Shifting position so that he could finger her, Draco looked up. She was indeed caressing herself through her blouse, and his breath caught. Sweet Merlin, she was going to be amazing. Draco leaned in and kissed her, tongue sliding into her slack mouth. His fingers increased speed as her hands moved to tangle themselves in her hair. She was wet, slick against his fingers, and he moved with practiced precision. This was as far as he had ever gotten with Pansy in fourth year, and she had actually slapped him for it afterward. She hadn't understood that Draco didn't see her as some common whore. Pansy wasn't conventionally pretty, just as Ginny wasn't. But Pansy didn't see herself through Draco's eyes, didn't understand what Draco had wanted.

Ginny writhed beneath Draco's hand, knowing she needed something but not knowing what it was. When Draco moved to kiss the column of her throat, she found herself panting. "Yes, yes.... Oh Merlin, yes... I need...."

"Come for me," Draco whispered against her ear. He could feel her body begin to tighten around his fingers. "That's it. Just like that. Come for me, Ginny, let go..."

And then she came with a sharp cry, convulsing around his fingers and clutching him tightly.

Draco held her until her breath evened out. He was still almost painfully hard, but he could take care of that later. There were plenty of silent and secluded corners in his patrol.

"That was amazing," Ginny whispered, her chin tucked into the crook of his neck. "Wow."

Grinning madly, Draco dropped a kiss onto her neck. "Let's get you cleaned up and then back to the Tower on time."

He watched Ginny stretch out languidly, almost catlike. "Mmm... All right, then." She cleaned herself with a few spells, then looked about for her knickers. She found them tossed across the table, and on impulse pressed them into Draco's hand. "You keep these. Give them back the next time you want to taste me."

"Not scared, then?" Draco drawled, smirking. He felt immensely pleased with himself.

"Not anymore. You can taste me anytime."

Draco's back was to the alcove entry, and neither knew they were being watched.

***

 

Sometimes, in order to be the object of other people's fears, you have understand your own. You have to become the dark in order to use it. You have to learn how to manipulate the fear inside before you can manipulate the fear in others. You have to put aside yourself to become the thing that everyone else thinks you are.

He thought keeping his eyes open would let him see between the silences and the shadows, would let him know when things were starting to go wrong. Now there were secrets, deep and dark and ugly. There were shadows between them, something dark and mysterious he couldn't even begin to fathom.

And he wasn't sure he even wanted to.

The books in the Restricted Section spoke to him, had taught him more than enough. Some of the books feared him now, and tried to push themselves even deeper into the shelves. That didn't help the ones he needed; he could pull them out easily enough. If he wanted the knowledge, he would have it. He only had to want something, and he could have it.

Anything he wanted. Anything.

Well, anything but Ginny Weasley. Ginny had always been a wild and beautiful girl, the unspoken goal of many of the Hogwarts boys. She was kind, great at Quidditch and had a smile that was like a sunset. It was fear of Ron's reaction that kept most of the boys at bay. The few brave ones that dated her had said it was great fun. Something kept Ginny from going far enough for their liking, but they had never truly hated her for it.

He had been in love with her from afar for years. She had been the goddess on the pedestal, the perfect icon he could only hope to be worthy of someday. But now there was something wicked and strange in her, something he hadn't seen during the years when she was growing up. It was those shadows between again, making her awful and strange. Or it was the shadows in his mind; he had been seeing them more and more lately.

He had to show her. He loved her, he was going to be worthy of her. He had to show her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was nearly two weeks to hols. The rumors about Ginny had subsided as soon as she began to spend more time visibly talking with Colin. Draco moved on to harass some random Hufflepuffs, though Neville remained one of his favorite targets. Ginny spent a lot of time in the library, and Ron slowly stopped being so suspicious. With Harry's scar beginning to give him pains on an almost daily basis, Ron and Hermione began to ignore Ginny again. She used to resent it, but found that it was now a blessing. She was looking forward to the snogging sessions with Draco. He had gone beyond snogging in the library alcove, but agreed to go slowly. There had been a lot of heavy petting and such, but no actual coitus yet. Ginny was surprised at Draco, but he was willing to wait for her. Not forever, he was quick to add with a grin, but he could wait a little and let the anticipation build.

Ginny had already decided today was the day. Draco was planning on returning to Malfoy Manor for hols, while Ginny and a large proportion of Gryffindors were staying. She had decorated their alcove, and piled a few blankets in the corner. Perhaps after hols, she would introduce Draco to the Room of Requirement.

Ginny happily headed to the library after dinner.

Unbeknownst to her, a shadow detached itself from the wall and followed her into the library.

***

Curfew was swiftly approaching. Ron, Harry and Hermione were in their usual huddle. Now that the Weasley twins were in St. Mungo's following the last Hogsmeade attack, there was no one to relay news. The Order of the Phoenix was remaining stubbornly silent, not telling Harry about their plans. Bill and Charlie weren't responding well to Ron's wheedling attempts. Hermione had a few ideas, if Tonks was amenable, but no one had heard from her in the past two months.

The clock over the fireplace struck ten, and Ron automatically searched the common room. Hermione might have approved of late night study sessions at the library, but Ron was against it. Ever since Neville and Colin had reported that Draco was stalking Ginny, Ron had been ever more protective. He knew he was driving her crazy, but he couldn't help it. Others in his family were getting hurt, and there was nothing he could do about it. If he could protect her from anything, no matter how minor, it would set his mind at ease.

But Ginny wasn't in the common room. Her usual gaggle of silly girlfriends were gossiping by the fire, but she wasn't with them.

"Ron?" Harry asked. "What is it?"

"Where's Ginny? She didn't come back yet."

"She's been late once or twice," Hermione said calmly.

"But I don't like this. She's been distracted lately, like that git Malfoy is still bothering her."

"Well, we know what he wants. You've been keeping your temper better lately if he attacks you, and everyone knows you're overprotective of Ginny."

Ron looked sharply at Hermione. "I've been good. I haven't said a word to her about anything."

"But everyone still knows. Maybe not why, exactly. They probably think it's just a big brother thing," Hermione said.

"If only you liked her back," Ron said miserably to Harry. "Then it would be perfect."

Harry flushed, then looked away. "You can't make people like one another. And she's been over that crush for a long time."

Ron sighed. "I know. But you could be my brother for real, you know? Family."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly. If Mrs. Weasley could, she'd adopt Harry for her own."

"At least you can stay at the Burrow when this is all over."

Harry settled back into the armchair slightly. "I'm glad you're both pretty confident about all this, because I'm not. I don't know what we can do with no information and almost constant Death Eater attacks. Both sides are losing."

"What do you suggest? Do you want to just offer yourself up to them?" Ron sputtered. "You can't! I won't let you."

Harry shook his head. "I just... I want to stop thinking so much about it. My scar hurts enough. The extra lessons aren't worth it. The plots just make the headaches worse. I just... If it ends, one way or another, I'll be grateful."

Hermione reached over and squeezed Harry's hand. "We're here for you, no matter what."

"I know... I just... Don't you get tired? Don't you wish it would end? Can't someone else make all the sacrifices sometimes?"

Hermione arched a brow at Harry and glanced over at Neville, huddled inside his outer robes for warmth. "I hardly think you're the only one, Harry."

He flushed with shame. "I forget sometimes."

Ron looked beyond Neville to the clock on the mantlepiece. "Ginny hasn't been this late before."  
"Ron...."

"I have a bad feeling," Ron muttered. "Don't you feel like things are starting to go wrong around here?"

Harry sighed. "Dumbledore is still here, and the Death Eaters at least have their fear of him keeping everything in check."

"I think he's ill, Harry," Hermione whispered. "Didn't you see how tired he seemed at dinner? It's gotten worse over the past month."

"How long will he last, do you think?" Ron asked, shocked. He hadn't noticed a thing.

Hermione shook her head. "I couldn't say. I don't know what's wrong. But he doesn't seem as strong as he used to be. He doesn't seem as aware. I don't know what's happening."

"He still has Fawkes," Harry said quietly. "So it would have to be something that Fawkes couldn't heal with his tears."

Ron got up. "Well, I'm going to look for Ginny. If we can't feel safe here, I've got to do something."

There was a dip in the conversation level in the common room. "What's happened to Ginny?" Colin asked, turning to look at Ron. Neville looked up from his Herbology book and frowned. Ginny's group of friends fell silent.

"She's late. I just wanted to look for her," Ron said lamely.

"I'll help!" Colin piped up. He stood and tried to seem reassuring. "We'll find her."

"I'll go too," Dean Thomas added. Seamus Finnegan stood up next to him.

"Might as well join you guys," Neville said, putting his book down. "It would go faster if we split up. But just watch, she's probably just on her way to the Tower."

Three boys from Ginny's year that Ron didn't know also stood up to help. He got their names, Nathan Cohen, Alex Chang and Marcus Bastas, and promptly forgot them. They had all seemed so bland and lifeless, and he had never noticed them during House events. The group of them exited Gryffindor Tower and looked around the nearest hallways to see if Ginny was approaching. When she wasn't found quickly, the boys all split up to search the castle.

Half an hour later, a shout rang out from the halls. It sounded male, and the Gryffindors all ran toward the sound. Neville, being the closest, was the first one there.

Colin had found Ginny.  
She was naked, curled in an alcove behind the library. She had her knees to her chest, her arms encircling them, trying to make a smaller target of herself. Most of her visible skin was layered in shallow cuts and blue and purple bruises. Colin had cried out at the sight of her, and was rooted to the spot. Neville gave him a push, and removed the school robe he had been wearing in the common room. He knelt down and carefully extended the robe to cover her. Ginny shrank back, trying to get further into the stone wall. Her face was turned away, her hair falling over her bruised face.

"Sh.... You're safe now, Ginny. Everything will be all right."

She didn't reply. Ginny was shivering with cold and fear, and was making mewling noises in the back of her throat. She pulled her knees tighter into her chest, as if she could shrink into the very stones beneath her.

"What happened here?!" Ron bellowed, pushing his way through the crowd of boys standing around and gawking. He skidded to a stop when he saw Ginny's tousled hair. He felt his heart constrict inside his chest. "Ginny? Gin!"

Ron pushed forward past Colin and Neville and scooped his sister up inside his arms. "We've got to get her to the hospital wing. She's hurt."

Poppy Pomfrey was woken from bed by the sound of someone bellowing at the top of their lungs. She shot to her feet and lit a candle at her bedside. She put on a wrapper and then headed out into the main infirmary area. These days, there were all sorts of strange emergencies. Poppy hadn't ever expected a school to require late night servicing, and had thought it would be over after she completed her mediwitchery training. St. Mungo's had always taken the witches looking for a fast pace of service. At a school, the only emergencies Poppy had wanted to see were Quidditch injuries or the occasional unplanned pregnancy that was quietly and tearfully removed. Poppy had grown comfortable here, to be sure, and liked her sleep. But poor Katie Bell the year before had heralded a change for Poppy, and she no longer slept as deeply.

"Oh dear," she murmured, seeing the knot of Gryffindors. "Was it a duel?"

Then they parted enough for her to see the patient, and she found herself paling. Ginny Weasley, bruised and cut, had the glassy-eyed stare of a traumatized victim. She had never wanted to see it in one of her students' faces, but here it was. The poor girl was wrapped in one of the boys' school robes, and her brother gently laid her down on one of the beds.

"Tell me what happened," Poppy said, keeping her voice authoritative but gentle. She began to take her wand from her sleeve when Ginny began to moan in fear.

"We found her like this. She was late coming to the tower, and I had this feeling like something was wrong," Ron began. His voice choked. "How could this happen?"

Neville touched his arm gently. "Madam Pomfrey will help, Ron." Poppy noticed his school robe was missing. Ginny was wrapped in his cloak, shivering with fear, eyes glassy and unfocused.

"I found her near the library," Colin added quietly. "She didn't have any of her things, and didn't have any clothes on, either. She didn't say anything to us, just tried to hide in the corner."

Poppy's heart sank. "All right, boys. I'll handle it from here and do the examination." She carefully covered Ginny with a sheet and removed Neville's robes. "Here. Take this back and get to the dorms. I'll handle everything."

"Tell Dumbledore," Ron said desperately. "He's got to find whoever attacked her."

"Of course. Now off with all of you, I've a patient to examine now."

Once all of the boys were gone, Poppy proceeded with the examination. She had an idea of what she would find by magical and physical examination. Poppy had to sedate Ginny in order to do the exams, and her worst fears were confirmed.

Ginny Weasley had been brutally beaten and raped, and a powerful Obliviate spell had been placed on her.

***

Whispers drifted down the corridors. Students were missing, families were attacked by Death Eaters; the enemy was swiftly coming closer and closer. Odd feelings began to carry more weight, and the atmosphere right before hols was downright oppressive. No one felt safe anymore.

Ginny Weasley had been attacked and left for dead. Death Eaters tried to mark her. She was a warning left for Gryffindors, and Harry Potter in particular. No one would be spared; she was merely the first.

Draco Malfoy was the initial suspect, but even Crabbe and Goyle didn't seem to know where he was. No one did, though they had expected some kind of scathing comment. Perhaps he went home early? He had made it no secret he wouldn't stay at Hogwarts over hols. No one had seen him leave, however, and students were not yet permitted to go home on holiday. As a result, rumors began to fly.

Draco had done it. Draco attacked her physically in retaliation for a hex, and had to cover his tracks. It had to be his initiation into the Death Eaters. He had really only been biding his time, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike.

Severus Snape strode into the Infirmary three days after the attack. Ginny had been healed of most of her wounds the first day, but had forgotten how to speak from the power of the Obliviate. By the end of the second day, she had stabilized and was able to speak again. Ultimately, her memory ended in the library after dinner.

"Miss Weasley?" he said, standing at the foot of the bed. Ginny was pale, with wide eyes and a perpetually haunted look. She nodded at him, her eyes never leaving his face. "Have you remembered anything new?"

"It wasn't Draco," she murmured unceremoniously. "I know it's what they're saying, Ron told me, but it's not true."

Snape lifted an eyebrow. "How can you be so certain?"

Ginny seemed to squirm under his gaze. "We… I don't know what we were, but he wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't hurt me."

"You seem awfully sure of this. _Have_ you remembered anything new?"

Ginny shook her head. "I don't remember anything. I got into the library, but it all ends there. I just… Draco wouldn't do this to me. We… we had an understanding, I guess. I don't… It wasn't him, I know it couldn't be him. But I don't know who." She looked up at Snape. "They're saying he's missing, Professor. Is it true?"

She seemed genuinely concerned, so Snape nodded. "He is. He disappeared the same night you were attacked."

Ginny blanched even further. "No… I was going to meet him in the library, Professor."

"For your understanding," Snape said sourly.

She nodded earnestly. "What if he was hurt because of me?"

"Because of _you?"_ Snape asked, incredulous. Did she think she was that important?

"If he came in while I was being attacked… What he was hurt because of that? He would be a witness. And it would explain how I got out of the library."

The girl made sense, Snape had to admit. "Then where is he? It's been three days."

"What?" she gasped, mouth dropping open. "But… It wasn't tonight?"

Snape's eyes narrowed. Poppy and her damned sympathy. "What do you remember _exactly._ Tell me everything. It won't leave this room, I promise you."

Ginny's lip trembled. "Draco said you're his godfather. He won't get in trouble, will he?"  
Snape shook his head. "I'll see to it."

Comforted somewhat, Ginny nodded. "We've been meeting in the library. We would talk, or… Well, we mostly talked, and… stuff… and… we hadn't…" Ginny flushed and looked down at her hands. "I've heard some girls in my year, they called me a tart, since I've got friends that are boys and they all think I'm dating them. But I wasn't and I'm not… I was never tarty with Draco," she whispered desperately, looking up. "It felt special somehow, like I mattered to him, like we were important. I wasn't bad, Professor." There were tears in her eyes, and she looked at him pleadingly. "Please, you mustn't think badly of us."

Snape was startled by this. She had always been respectful in his class, and had always stayed out of his way when he visited Grimmauld Place. He had always assumed she had believed the worst in him the way Potter and his cronies did. He had never really thought much of her after her first year, and now he was beginning to feel sorry for that.

"So you were his secret, then," Snape murmured. "He was keeping your relationship from me."

Ginny nodded miserably. "He didn't think you would approve. Your opinion of him is important."

That was something else Snape found startling, but he gave no outward sign of it. "I see. And you kept this from your own family, of course."

Ginny nodded. "Ron would be so upset if he knew."

"Upset enough to hurt you?" Snape asked gently. "Or have someone else do it?"

"No!" she cried, shocked. "He's protective of me. He'd never do something like this."

"But what if it's the other way around for your little scenario? What if you came upon your brother and his friends fighting Draco and attempted to stop it?"

Ginny shook her head. "He'd never hurt me like that. He's my brother."

Snape paused for a moment. "Did Madam Pomfrey tell you the exact extent of your injuries?" Ginny shook her head, and Snape swore under his breath. "You weren't just beaten, Ginevra," Snape began slowly. Ginny looked confused, but said nothing. "We don't know if it was the same attacker, or someone else afterward, but you were also raped three nights ago."

Ginny sat back, shocked. "But I don't feel… Wouldn't I feel different after that? I just feel like I've been hit by a Bludger at Quidditch. I don't feel raped."

Snape smiled at her sardonically. "Count yourself as lucky, then. Young girls don't take that sort of thing well."

"I don't suppose they do," Ginny murmured. "But now I'm convinced it wasn't Draco."

"Because of your relationship."

Ginny nodded. "Things were better than that between us. This was important."

Snape pursed his lips and stared at her. "But the fact remains. He is missing and you have been attacked and violated."

"There wasn't any way to tell who did it?"

"No. Your attacker was quite tidy. All physical evidence was eliminated, and your memory as well." Snape paused for a moment. "If you allow me to, I can try to retrieve your lost memory. I will be careful."

Ginny's lip trembled. "You'll see us, then, won't you? You won't be angry?"

To be honest, Snape was more impressed by the loyalty Ginny had shown so far. It was rare for any Gryffindor to even like a Slytherin, let alone be devoted to him. "No, I won't be angry. I'll give you some time to collected your thoughts and get them in order. I will return after dinner this evening, and then we shall begin."

Ginny nodded stoically. "Okay. I'll be ready."

But Poppy Pomfrey refused Snape entry that evening, stating even Professors needed to take Saturday evenings off.

_Saturday. I missed three days, and now it's Saturday._ Ginny thought miserably. _Who could have done this to me? Why wouldn't Madam Pomfrey tell me? Did she think it's a mercy? That I shouldn't know what been done to me but everyone else knows?_

Ginny turned away from Madam Pomfrey when she wanted to dose her with an unnamed tonic. "What are you giving me?" she asked instead.

Madam Pomfrey was taken aback. Ginny had never questioned her before. "It's a healing potion, to speed the healing of those cuts. Some of them can't be fixed with a spell." She sounded hurt, but Ginny squelched any sympathy she might have had. "What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked, voice cold.

"Tell you?" Madam Pomfrey's voice was faint. _Damn Snape,_ she thought, _I didn't want to deal with this, she didn't have to know yet…_ "My dear, you had no memory. You were in no condition to be shocked."

"Can't be shocked by something you can't even remember," Ginny said darkly. She turned back to Madam Pomfrey in time to see the mediwitch flinch. "I'll drink that. But I want to know what's happening to me from now on."

"You'll be back in Gryffindor Tower tomorrow," Madam Pomfrey said, voice abrupt with hurt. She made sure Ginny drank all of the potion, then left.

_They hated that at St. Mungo's, after the Chamber. They don't like to be questioned. They don't want to give any answers. They don't want to lose control._ Ginny closed her eyes and felt the tears slip past her eyelids. _They don't want to be like me. They don't want to know how fragile they are, how easily hurt they can be. They don't want to remember mortality. _

Ginny struggled to put her thoughts in order. Tomorrow or Monday she would try to find Snape. She would remember what was done to her. She was better off knowing, no blank spots in her memory; no possession or violation could possibly be as bad as not knowing the truth. Her mind could play tricks on her, leap at shadows and doors. The ghosts in her mind had to be laid to rest, and so far only Snape had offered to help. Everyone else wanted her to forget.

_No blood on my hands this time, no feathers. No signs but an ache, no traces to guide me back. Not even dreams, nothing…_

Ginny fell into a tormented sleep, plagued by vague sensations of fear and anguish. She woke twice in the night, feeling as though she were being watched, as if someone else besides Harry had an Invisibility Cloak. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in the pillow. It had to stop sometime. The fear was too vague, it had to go away.

But the sensation carried with her upon waking for good. It followed her to Gryffindor Tower, it followed her back into the dorms. It colored her interactions with other Gryffindors, it made her want to disappear.

Someone had hurt her badly, and she didn't know who to blame. That scared her more than anything else.

***

She was dreaming, she had to be. She was being pushed down, hands around her throat, binding spells in place. Her clothes were already missing. The stones beneath her back were freezing cold. She was screaming, trying to struggle against her bonds. Her body was twisted, then her face smashed down against the stones. She never saw a face, never heard a voice. She hadn't even heard her own voice.

Ginny didn't know what prompted the memory, however fragmented it was. _Something happened to me… What was different today?_ she thought. She had been able to leave the Infirmary, and she was excused from the last week of classes before hols. With so much free time on her hands, Ginny found herself wandering down random hallways of the castle. _Professor Snape did something to me. He said he'd help me remember, and he did something to my mind. I'm starting to remember now._ The vague bruised feeling now meant something. Her dreams were dark, frightening, mysterious. They had to mean something, too. It all had to mean something.

But who could it be? Who could have attacked her so savagely? It was rage that did it. The bruising had been too extensive, the rape was traumatic, and her memory had been erased with such force she had been unable to speak. Her silence had been complete.

_Doors were unlocked. They're opening between the corridors, deepening the shadows. Something's happening here… and Dumbledore can't seem to stop it. He seems sick._

Ginny found her breath catching as she passed the library. She stopped and leaned against the cool stones. Her mind remained stubbornly blank, refusing to remember what had happened to her that Wednesday.

"Ginny? Are you okay?" Neville asked, approaching the library with Dean and Seamus. She nodded at him, smiling faintly. Then she glided off past them.

Neville was always looking out for her, always making sure she was well. Some of it no doubt was Ron's doing, but Neville did like her. She could see it now, didn't know what to do with it. _Draco… Where are you? What's happened? Someone must have attacked you, too… You never would have hurt me._

Ginny found herself sitting down in an empty classroom. Her thought were a jumbled mess. _Everyone did something to me, didn't they? I'm just a favorite target. Why? What did I do to deserve this? What happened that night?_

There was the sensation of her cheekbones shattering against stone, and Ginny heard herself mewling in fear. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to ward off the chill. She shouldn't be alone. She shouldn't be wandering. She should remain by the common room fire, safe as houses.

"Ginny?" Neville asked. He walked into the classroom tentatively. "I'm worried about you."

His steps were more sure than she remembered, and she wondered when he had changed. Neville had always been in the background, ignored by the Golden Trio unless he was needed somehow. He and Luna had loved the DA, had often met with Ginny and Colin to hold their own meetings. Neville had probably blossomed under the attention, but her eyes had only been for Draco. She hadn't noticed him before.

"I'll be all right," Ginny said, voice feeble.

"You don't look all right," Neville ventured. He stepped up to her, but stayed just out of arm's reach. "You look like you're in pain."

"I… It's just a matter of time. I'll be okay."

Neville stepped a little closer. "Gin… If there's anything I can do… Anything at all…"

She tried to smile at Neville. "You can't make them stop staring at me. You can't make the dreams stop. You can't stop the shaking." Ginny shook her head. "You can't help me, Neville. No one can."

On impulse, Neville stepped closer and wrapped her into a hug. "Maybe I can, if you let me."

_No. Get away. Stop. Stop it!_

Startled by Neville's hug and her reaction, Ginny pushed away. "Uh. Thanks for the offer. I'll see you later."

Neville watched as Ginny left in a flurry of nerves. His face was set and motionless. "I _will_ be there for you, Ginny. I promise."

***

Hermione took over Draco Malfoy's patrol route Wednesday. It was a week now that he was missing, and she found it more disturbing than she let on. While she certainly didn't miss the snarky bastard's comments, the very fact that he was absent didn't bode well. Either Draco Malfoy attacked Ginny as the rumors stated, or he had also been attacked. It was not widely known that Ginny had been raped as well as beaten; what if he had actually been killed? If that was the case… times were far darker than she feared.

Out of nowhere, Hermione was thrown sideways into the wall. Stars swam in front of her eyes, and with a soft cry Hermione had to grab the wall to stay upright. She caught a glimpse of someone her height, draped in a heavy black hooded cloak. The cloak seemed to move of its own volition, even though there was no breeze. Its edges moved outward, enveloping them in a shroud of darkness. She caught a glimpse of a heavy gold locket with a strange glyph on its surface. The sight of it filled her with dread, though she couldn't identify the glyph on the locket.

"What's going on?" she whispered fearfully.

In answer, she was struck hard across the face. The back of her head slammed into the stone, and Hermione felt herself falling. The front of her blouse was ripped open, the buttons flying out into the darkness created by the cloak. It was so cold, as though the stones had been turned to ice. There were six or seven or more fists landing over her body, though the cloak's owner stood perfectly still. There was a sibilant voice sliding across the space between them, though it wasn't meant for Hermione. The language wasn't familiar, but she could hear the occasional English words. "…hurt her… all you desire… give her to you…"

The cloak remained suspended as the owner stepped forward. The rest of Hermione's clothes were violently ripped to shreds. She was thrown sideways into the wall as the figure began to unbutton trousers. Hermione began sobbing when she caught sight of the engorged and erect penis. "No… please no, I won't tell if you don't…"

Threads of darkness snaked out and seized Hermione's wrists and ankles. They pulled outward, leaving her spreadeagled over the frozen stones. Her attacker was wearing a black mask over his face, and still had his black shirt on. The trousers disappeared. He knelt down next to her and pinched her nipped cruelly, twisting them.

"You always thought you were so good," a voice hissed with hatred. It seemed to come from the locket around the masked boy's neck. "You showed up everyone, nose in the air, thinking you're better than those steeped in magic." The boy positioned himself between Hermione's legs, and then thrust deeply into her. The hymen ripped, and Hermione began to scream. The boy's hands were fisted around her breasts, nails digging in and breaking the skin. "Fucking Mudblood. You're not better. You worthless bitch. Stop looking. Stop doing. Fucking bitch. Shut your mouth. Insufferable cunt!" The locket's voice was snarling with loathing and rage.

The pain seemed to go on for hours. She was cursed at in between thrusts and groans, and it felt as though flesh were tearing. When he withdrew, Hermione blinked back tears. If he was done, then he was about to memory charm her. She tried to focus on the locket and its glyph.

And then he began to sodomize her.

Hermione screamed, shrieking into the darkness and trying to move away. The boy's fingers were thrust deep into her bloody cunt, pulling and tearing her even further. "Fucking bitch," the locket screeched. "Good for nothing cunt, fucking bitch, not even good enough to suck my cock, not good enough for anyone…"

And then mercifully, he grabbed her head between his hands and slammed it backward into the stone floor.

Hermione willingly slipped into darkness.

***

Ron was murderous when McLagen found Hermione's bloody body outside the library, not five feet from where Ginny had been found. He raged about the common room, throwing things and swearing up a storm. Almost feverish, Ginny finally stood and stunned her own brother. The common room was shocked to silence. "Neville, Harry… Let's take him to the Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey will let him in now. We'll just say he fell."

They levitated Ron carefully through the halls. They echoed oddly, and shadows seemed to shift crazily around them.

Ginny tried not to think of Draco, tried not to worry about his wellbeing. _Please don't be dead…_ she thought.

Neville seemed awfully close to Ginny, and she almost regretted asking him to help. He was very good at levitation, though, and those boys from her year wouldn't have really wanted to help. She knew they didn't like Ron, and were too easily intimidated by him. She had heard their bitter whispers months ago, but had never really paid them much attention. Now she had to wonder about them, that maybe their whispers and stares weren't so benign. Ginny had to pay more attention. Just the most brief of descriptions of Hermione's condition and Ginny's heart sank. It was just the way she had looked, only worse. More damage, more bruising, more blood.

_Poor Hermione… I hope she's okay…_ Ginny thought. _Of anyone, I know how she feels right now…_

Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape were hovering over Hermione's body. He appeared deep in concentration, as if trying to focus on something far away and hazy. Ginny could practically feel Harry's hate radiating out to the Potions professor; Snape must have felt it as well, since his eyes snapped back into focus and his lips curled.

"I see. Another one of your own fallen. A heavy price to pay for being friends with the Boy Who Lived," Snape sneered, standing. He nodded at Ginny. "Ginevra. We'll speak later."

Harry stared at Snape with loathing as he left the infirmary. He waited until Snape left and Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Ron. "Ginny!" Harry hissed, furious. "What could you possibly talk to him about and not us?"

Ginny flushed, but wasn't sorry. She didn't trust either of them with her secrets, but wasn't willing to say so. "I need to relearn Potions. I've forgotten most of it," she lied. It seemed to satisfy them both.

Ron was revived with a spell and given a dose of Pepper-Up Potion. He lingered next to Hermione, holding her hand and stroking her hair tenderly. "We'll leave you two alone, Ron," Harry said gently.

Harry, Neville and Ginny were all silent on the way back to Gryffindor Tower. The gravity of the situation was really just dawning on all of them, and there was nothing left to say.

***

Michael Corner was holding a knife in his clenched fist, threatening to use it. "If I can't have you, no one can."

But it rang false, and Ginny mocked him openly in her dream. "You won't touch me. I never let you touch me, I never wanted you to. You're not the one I want, you never were. I'm sorry I ever dated you."

"Ginny!"

Her eyes snapped open, and Ginny jerked herself awake. She had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the fireplace, curled up around a pillow. The common room was all but deserted. Harry was telling Neville to go to sleep, he would watch over Ginny. "You lost your chance, Harry," Neville said, voice hard. "You can't throw people away then snatch them back when it's convenient for you." Harry sucked in a breath, but didn't reply. He went back upstairs. Even his footsteps sounded angry.

"I said I'd protect you, Ginny," Neville crooned into the darkness. Her skin crawled uneasily and she remained silent on the couch. As soon as Neville left, breathed a bit easier. There was nothing specific or suspicious about him. He didn't know about what really happened that night. But his presence was cloying and Ginny couldn't betray her memories of Draco.

_I need to talk to Professor Snape,_ Ginny thought suddenly. _He'll know how to help me._ It was late, though. She would have to catch him during office hours the next day.

Comforted, Ginny went upstairs to the dorms to sleep.

***  
***


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny couldn't remember why she had been so distracted, but Hermione's attack galvanized her into action. She couldn't just sit there feeling sorry for herself anymore. Someone was out there, attacking Gryffindor girls. She had to help, however she could. Anyone else in the dorms could be vulnerable, and the attacker might even switch houses. Ginny decided she had to act, and she had to visit Snape. He had hinted that he would be able to help her recover her lost memories. If it was true, she would then have more clues as to her attacker's identity.

On the way to Snape's office, Neville bumped into Ginny. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, looking extremely nervous.

"Look, Nev, I was on my way..."

"I'm sorry," he blurted suddenly. "Look, the other day... I just..." He took a deep breath. "Ron asked me to look after you, me and Harry. And I... I like you. And the attack made me realize, I can't wait to tell you. I don't know if it's just going to be girls that are attacked, or anyone late at night. I go to the library or to the greenhouses, it could be anyone. And I want you to know I'll be there for you, for whatever you need." Neville was almost blushing, his words tripping over themselves in his haste. "It's just... what if you didn't wake up? What if Madam Pomfrey couldn't heal you? I had to let you know. I can't wait on it anymore. I... I like you, Ginny. And it's okay if you don't like me back like that, but I had to let you know. And I'll protect you, no matter what. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."

Ginny's breath was caught in her throat and she couldn't breathe. "I... I didn't know."

He looked almost ashamed, and it seemed almost normal between them again. "I know. I wouldn't have even... I don't want you to feel weird around me, but I think you are already. And I don't want this to ruin our friendship. But... If we don't know if we're going to wake up in the morning, it makes us all that much more precious."

The strange tightness in her chest eased. "Yes, that's true." She leaned in and gave Neville a tight hug. "I do like you as a friend, Neville. I don't know if it'll grow to more than that or not. I don't know what anything will be." Ginny pulled back and kissed his cheek softly. "Thank you. You don't know what this means to me, to know that there's someone I can rely on."

Neville smiled at her sadly. "You're going to throw me over for Harry, aren't you?"

Ginny blinked in surprise. "What?"

"It's what everybody says."

"Well, everybody doesn't know me," Ginny snapped, bristling by instinct. Neville seemed almost alarmed by it, and Ginny forced herself to smooth out her features.

"I just..." Neville grasped her hand tightly, desperately. "I wanted you to know. You mean so much to me, and I feel so _helpless_ right now, not strong or brave or useful. If there's _anything,_ let me know. I don't care how silly it sounds. I'll do anything."

Ginny found herself nodding, if only to get away. The pressure on her hand was stifling. _It's not Neville, really... It's a memory, fighting its way back to me... I need to remember..._

And then Neville leaned in, kissing her on the lips.

His kiss was light and reverent, dry and cool. It was nothing like Draco's fevered, passionate kisses. There was hesitancy in him, desperation. He wanted so much to make a good impression, and was so afraid of failure. When Neville broke the kiss, he looked at her anxiously.

Ginny touched Neville's face gently. "I'll be all right. I'm not going anywhere."

"I needed to be sure," he said, voice faint. He was clutching at his chest with his other hand, his fingers scrabbling spastically over his breastbone. "I feel almost sick with worry sometimes, that I'm not good enough, that things are only going to get worse." Neville took in a deep breath. "I try to be strong around everyone else, I don't show them this. But I feel safe with you. I trust you. I know you're better than I am."

She was feeling almost embarrassed by the effusive praise, and Ginny could feel the blush rising in her cheeks. "No, I'm not." In her mind's eye, she thought of Draco, his tongue between her lips and then his fingers sliding within her knickers.

Neville was closer than Ginny had realized. She could almost hear his heart, and it was beating in an erratic triphammer rhythm. "Yes, Ginny. You've bounced back from the horrible things that have happened. You don't seem scarred by it. You're a survivor. And you're wonderful in ways that I'm not. I know what I am, Ginny. I'm not saying this for sympathy. I know what I'm capable of, and I know what I can do. And I don't think I could have done as well in your place."

Ginny smiled sadly and let her hand fall from his face. "You never know until it happens what you're capable of."

He nodded solemnly. "That's true."

"I'm taking a walk," Ginny said after a moment. "I wanted to be alone, to try and think. My thoughts have been all muddled up lately."

Neville nodded. "I'm here for you. Anything I can help with, anything, just ask me."

"I will," Ginny promised. She impulsively leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

She could feel his eyes on her back, and turned away from Snape's office. She didn't want anyone yet knowing that she was planning on visiting him. Ginny was pretty sure that Occlumency and Ligilmency were hidden talents, and she wasn't about to broadcast Snape's skills to everyone. He would help her, though. Her memories wanted to return, but they were fairly skillfully blocked at every turn.

She thought of the boys in her year. The Gryffindor ones were rough and tumble, but didn't seem to be capable of such rage. She instinctively turned over the Slytherin boys, looking for ones that seemed likely. They were sneaky, but somehow didn't seem overly vicious. They were lazy and suspicious of others, wanting more return for poor effort. Attacking her was something that had to have been planned out and prepared for, and the Slythern boys of her year didn't seem to be the type capable of waiting. Hufflepuff boys weren't the type, and Ravenclaws generally weren't that nasty.

Who could it have been?

Ron had mentioned that three boys in her year had helped look for her. Nathan Cohen, Alex Chang and Marcus Bastas, though Ginny didn't think any of the three considered her a close friend. She knew them, but not that well. She often kept to herself, not really trusting anyone in her year. They hadn't noticed her in her first year, when she had problems adjusting. They hadn't noticed the changes as the diary took over her mind. Once Ginny had been pronounced cured, she was back as if nothing happened. As far as her year may have thought, nothing happened other than that she had been kidnapped and Harry had saved her.

Nathan was quiet. There wasn't much else that Ginny knew about him. He had eyes that took in everything, and he often didn't speak. But he was the fastest in the class at Charms, and the one most gifted in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall approved of him mightily, and had him appointed as a Transfiguration tutor. It was high praise indeed, though he didn't seem to have much of a personality in his own right. Ginny found it odd that he seemed to be in the background and almost isolated. _My male counterpart,_ she mused, turning at a random corridor in her travels. _Only I'm better at Potions than Transfiguration._

Alex talked to her most, though it was always about classes and afterschool clubs. He didn't seem to have much going for him other than his impressive knowledge about ancient runes and artifacts. He was the most Ravenclaw of the Gryffindors, rather like Hermione in the seventh year class. Alex treated others much more nicely, though, and Ginny counted him as a trustworthy acquaintance. It didn't seem like him to be violent either.

Ginny had actually no ideas about Marcus one way or another. He was brash, rather like Ron, but did make a lot more cutting remarks than seemed necessary. Yet she had also seen him patiently help lower years with their homework and getting projects together on time. It seemed as though he had no patience for his cohort at all. It was odd.

_No one will_ seem_ like the type, I suppose,_ Ginny thought absently. She made another turn in the hallway, this time toward Snape's office. She didn't think she was being followed, and the corridors were deserted and dim. _Damn. I probably shouldn't have wandered this far out._

But she didn't have any bad feelings about the corridors. It seemed almost as if she were investigating odd corners where her attacker may have been hiding. She wasn't, but she could always say so if she ran into anyone.

The corridor outside Snape's office was empty. She knocked on the door firmly, waiting for a response. The hairs at the nape of her neck began to prickle just as Snape's door opened. He seemed surprised to see her.

"I've forgotten a lot of Potions. I was wondering if I could arrange for a tutorial?"

"Well, if you're not busy right now, I have some time," Snape said, eyebrow lifted.

Ginny shrugged. "I don't have any supplies, but I do have the time."

He nodded. "It's quite all right. We can begin with some of the stored materials in the workroom." Ginny stepped around him, into the Potions office, and the door shut behind her. The odd feeling at the back of her neck eased. "Now can you explain yourself?"

"I felt as though I were watched." Ginny looked up and saw the startled expression on Snape's face. "I didn't think you wanted your other abilities widely known."

He nodded. "Very thoughtful of you. Have you remembered much on your own yet?" he asked, indicating the chair opposite his desk.

Ginny shook her head. "Nothing much more than odd sensations. Like vague memories of memories, nothing real."

"And did you have any thoughts regarding your classmates?"

"None of them seem the type. But then... I don't know what I'm looking for, really."

Snape nodded again. "Very well. Shall we begin?"

She nodded eagerly. "Please."

Snape looked at her solemnly. "You may not like it."

"I don't care. I need to know. He needs to be punished, and I need to live without this hanging over me."

He seemed almost to respect that. "Sit back and open your mind. I'll try to be gentle, but if you don't consciously try to block me, this may be easier for you."

"All right." Ginny leaned back and closed her eyes. She saw the black veined with red, the echoes of light making stars against her eyelids. She could feel herself drifting along in the darkness, reaching back for the memory that was hidden deep down in the corridors of her mind. _We've gone exploring.... and hopefully we'll find something..._

There was a soft sound behind her, and then a sharp pain at the base of her skull. Light flared bright white behind her eyes. Sensation began to bleed through.

_Nails along her spine. She could feel her flesh almost curdle from the touch, puckering with the cold seeping into her bones._

_"So beautiful," a voice rasped, "and all mine..." The voice didn't sound like anyone she knew, didn't sound like much at all. It was a slight susurrous of sound, a sinuous slither across the stones. She could feel the stones as she fell against them, as she was thrown down and beaten into submission. Cold. Intense pain and ripping. Freezing cold, as though her skin was about to stick to the stones. Her fingernails scrabbling across stone and cloth, losing purchase, breaking to the quick. "I will have you forever..."_

Ginny gasped, eyes snapping open. She was staring at Snape but not really seeing him at all. A strange glyph hung in her vision, black on gold, cold and menacing. Ginny couldn't breathe, couldn't move. She was transfixed by the vision in her inner eye, the feeling of being possessed on all sides. Her magic was bound, her body was bound, her voice was bound. She was caught in the corridor, lost among the shadows, every minute slipping away from her, dripping from her fingers and sinking down into the ground.

_You can't keep yourself from me. You can't hide from me. I know where you are at all times. I know what you do. You belong to me._

Ginny's heart froze as Snape's gaze seemed diffuse and empty. "Professor?"

_No one will take you from me, no one will find me. I'll be sure of it._

"Professor!" Ginny shrieked. She mentally slammed her memories behind a locked door, and leaped to her feet. Snape seemed to be caught within himself, lost and confused. She shook his shoulders rapidly, but he wasn't responding. "Professor! You can't do this! You're the only one that can help me!"

_I'll know. I'll know and I'll stop it. You can never get rid of me._

Ginny was trapped on all sides again.

***

 

Everyone accepted Ginny's explanation that she had gone to Professor Snape to relearn Potions and found him catatonic. Madam Pomfrey did an examination and said that he was under a powerful spell that had locked his mind away. Ginny could see that Madam Pomfrey believed Snape had discovered the attacker's true identity, and found herself drifting away from the Infirmary. She bumped into Alex on the way to Gryffindor Tower. "Oh! Alex! I didn't know you were staying here for hols. I thought you were going home."

"I was, but Nathan said he wanted someone to keep him company." Alex smiled at Ginny as he shrugged. "I guess with the attacks, he didn't want to be alone in the dorm."

"Wasn't Marcus staying?"

"I think he changed his mind. He's not in the dorms. He hasn't been around," Alex said with another shrug. He smiled at the Fat Lady and gave the password. "I thought he just went home to get away from what was happening here."

"Did he take his things with him?"

"He took his trunk," Alex replied. He sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace and looked at the fire. He seemed almost morose, not at all like himself. "But he must have been in a hurry. I mean, his bed was a mess, and he was neat to a fault."

"You think his parents got scared?" Ginny asked, sitting next to him.

Alex shook his head. "He was fine. He was talking about hols, all excited to stay. But the night Hermione was attacked, he was out late. He had gone out after all of you took Ron to the Infirmary, so at first we thought he was going to help. But he didn't come back with the three of you, and I didn't think to ask if you've seen him. You looked really worried, and I knew that it had to be pretty bad. And when I woke up in the morning, Marcus' trunk was gone. I guess I just assumed he sent an owl to his parents and left."

"You think he'd do that?"

Alex suddenly smiled at Ginny. "I'm sure it's nothing. Look, lots of people changed their mind about staying. Half the Hufflepuffs are going, you know. Most of the Ravenclaws don't think it's safe. So he probably just didn't bother to tell us. It's not like we were best friends."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He smiled genuinely at Ginny, making his slanted eyes crinkle into a fine line. "It's all right. He just doesn't get on with people in general. I don't think he ever knew how to, being an only child and spoiled rotten. I'm sure his Mum and Dad just panicked and wanted him home."

Ginny nodded and then went up the stairs into the girls' dorm. She managed to fall asleep and dream of butterflies flitting against a black night sky. She probably would have continued to dream of rather benign things if not for the screaming a few hours later. In her bedclothes, Ginny ran down the stairs to see what it was.

Lavender Brown was standing just inside the portrait hole, screaming and pointing along the corridors behind her. Neville and Seamus were beside her, and Ginny suddenly remembered that they were working on an herbology project together with two Hufflepuff girls.

"I saw it! I'm not making it up! The shadows _moved_ and just swallowed them up! I _saw_ it! Tell them!"

"Look, it could have been anything! We were near the windows!" Seamus was yelling back. Neville looked vaguely uncomfortable at being caught in the middle.

"So?" Lavender shrieked. "You think they jumped? Impossible! The cards told me there would be a loss, but now there's _two!"_

"You're jumping to conclusions," Neville began feebly.

"NO!" Lavender shrieked, pushing him aside. "I know what I saw, even you two didn't see a bloody thing. It's like the darkness came down and swallowed them up, and I'm sure we'll find them in a few days in a bloody mess!"

"Oh come on now, that's ridiculous!" Seamus cried. "Headmaster Dumbledore would never allow it, you're daft!"

Lavender looked around the common room desperately, then her eyes locked onto Ginny, standing on the stairs. "She was attacked!" Lavender yelled, pointing. "She was lost for hours and wound up unconscious for three days! And then Hermione! Someone's out there! Someone's doing this!"

Ginny stepped back from the railing, thinking it had been a bad idea to simply walk out of the dorm into the common room. She saw Alex and Nathan out of the corner of her eye, a piece of parchment being exchanged then sliding into Nathan's pocket. Nathan quickly stepped away from Alex, then ducked behind a group of fourth years wanting to see Lavender's hysterical face.

"What do you want, Lavender?" Neville began, exasperated. "We told Professor McGonagall, we told Professor Vector. What else are we supposed to do? It's past curfew as it is!"

"Sodding curfew!" Lavender cried, stamping her foot. "It's how this bastard is getting away!"

"Look, just calm down... the teachers will find them..." Seamus said, taking hold of Lavender's shoulders. "They'll be safe."

Lavender burst into tears. "But we won't know! We won't know."

"They've got to be, Lav," Seamus comforted her awkwardly, and Neville moved to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. Lavender bawled against Seamus' chest, and he wrapped his arms around her gently. "They've got to be all right," he kept repeating, holding her. Everyone else in the common room looked away, uncomfortable. No one knew what to say that wasn't a lie, and everyone knew what must be happening to the missing girls.

Feeling almost dirty, Ginny slunk back toward the dorms and tried to sleep again.

This time, all she could see in her dreams was a strange black glyph painted over a gold locket.

 

***

 

Anne Marie Harding and Vita Vellore were still missing the next day. They had never arrived at the Hufflepuff dorms, and the teachers hadn't seen the girls either. As it was hols, the entire Gryffindor and Hufflepuff dorms pitched in and looked for the girls in shifts.

Anne Marie was found by three fourth year Hufflepuffs near the dungeons just before dinner. She was bound, gagged and had frostbite of her fingers and toes. She was bruised all over, and there was blood between her naked legs. Her uniform shirt was torn open, buttons missing. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, and she kept making hissing sounds. Harry later confirmed that it was not Parseltongue.

Vita was found the next day near the entrance to the Ravenclaw dorms, just after dinner. None of the Ravenclaws that had missed dinner had heard anything, and there had been no sign of her before dinner. She was completely naked, with vicious bruises and cut marks over her breasts and legs. The blood was smeared over the stones around her, indicating a struggle had taken place there. She was also glassy-eyed, and also making the same hissing sounds. No one bothered to ask Harry if it was Parseltongue, but he confirmed anyway that it wasn't. She shrieked violently when approached by anyone, and Madam Pomfrey had to silence her with a Stunning spell, then levitate her to the Infirmary.

No one said anything, but doors were warded just a little bit tighter.

Headmaster Dumbledore's absence became a little more troubling.

***

 

Hermione woke up the next day. Her impeccable memory ended during the library rounds she had been doing when attacked, though she did admit to Ginny in private that she remembered odd things. "Sounds," Hermione whispered when prompted. "Hissing sounds, like a snake's, I suppose. It sounded almost like language, and then there were regular words in it. But it was mostly hissing, something that made my skin crawl just to hear it."

"Anything else?" Ginny asked. Her desperation must have bled into her voice, because Hermione looked up sharply.

"I'm not the only one, am I?"

Ginny shook her head helplessly. "Two Hufflepuff girls were taken two days ago, and we found them one at a time. I think it's the same thing."

Hermione looked as though she was about to say something else when there were voices just outside the entrance to her corner of the Infirmary. Hermione clamped her mouth shut, then grabbed Ginny's hand in a viselike grip. Ginny could feel one of Hermione's broken nails scratching against her palm painfully. It seemed deliberate, almost like a letter.

"It's the only other thing I remember," Hermione whispered fiercely, leaning in next to Ginny. She stared at Ginny intensely, her eyes dancing in the candlelight as if she were feverish. "And it's fading fast."

Ginny looked down at her palm and paled. It was the same strange glyph from her dreams.

***

 

Someone had been in the library alcove. Ginny had hurried there after visiting Hermione, wanting to collect her thoughts. There was something about the glyph that seemed almost familiar, though Ginny didn't know where else she could have seen it. She needed to think, and she missed Draco desperately. Somehow, when they had worked on homework together, if she had a problem he would instantly make it seem simple.

Her quills were in the wrong place, and one of them was missing. The books had been stacked in a different order than the last time she had been using them. True, she hadn't been to the hidden alcove since before her attack, but no one else had known about it.

_Someone must have seen us here. Someone else must have known._ Ginny grabbed her precious quills and a roll of parchment. Her dorms then. The attacker couldn't be there, since she knew for a fact the attacker was male. _How did they know? How could they have possibly seen us go in there?_

Ginny hurried past the Restricted Section entrance, unable to shake the horror-inspiring feeling that she was being watched.

***

 

Ginny was dreaming. She knew it had to be a dream, because Draco was in it.

She was being followed, and knew that they were using the Weasley family clock to do it. There was a way to remove the spells placed on her, so that the clock would no longer recognize her presence. It involved very Dark spells and a bit of mutilation, but it was worth it. The shadows were moving, and Ginny was afraid that they would eat her alive if she let them.

Inside a pentagram, Ginny recited the nonsense syllables of the spell. She rubbed at her right wrist with a spike-studded piece of hide, chanting all the while. She didn't feel any pain, but could feel the bonds of the identity spells loosening as the blood flowed.

And then finally, it broke.

Ginny flung down the studded hide outside the pentagram, knowing her clock hand had just fallen off of the family clock. She could feel the snapping inside her chest. There was a sense of accomplishment, that she had managed to complete such a vicious and precise ritual that too few people knew about. But at the same time.... now she wasn't a Weasley. Now she was cut off, adrift in the sea of people with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. No one could love her now, no one could forgive her for what she had done.

Ginny sank to her knees, sobbing, clutching her bleeding wrist to her chest. She could feel a presence behind her as the pentagram dissolved, the spell loosening its hold. Draco folded her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Ginny tried to keep her bloody arm off of his pristine green shirt, but it smeared anyway. She kept her head down, ashamed, not wanting him to see her like this. She shouldn't have been so weak.

But he tilted her head up and looked into her eyes. His own seemed like pools of molten silver. "I know why you did this. I know what you're afraid of. There isn't much time left, not much time at all. I'm dying, Ginny. He's killing me and I can't even say who he is, not unless I want to die even faster. I'm hoping you'll find me, Ginny. You have to.... you have to find me."

Ginny shot up in bed, gasping for air. It seemed heavy and oppressive around her, and she could still feel a stinging in her right wrist. She looked at it, and it looked as though she had rubbed it raw in her sleep.

Could Draco really be alive? Was he really trying to send her a message?

Ginny crept from her bed without waking her remaining roommates. She slipped through the portrait hole, the Fat Lady murmuring slightly in her sleep. Ginny headed for the Headmaster's office. She remembered him talking to her once, after the Chamber, that he would always be there for her if she needed help. "I'm always here," he had said with a smile. "My room is just next door, so it's easy to take a nap between appointments." Then he had winked at her, eyes twinkling brightly, and then he shooed her out of the door. She had never really taken him up on the offer before, but now was as good a time as any.

"Coconut candies," Ginny said clearly. The gargoyle gave way at the sound of her voice, and the stairs began to open up. She ran up the entire flight of twisting stone steps, then stopped short just inside his office doors.

The office was in shambles. Trinkets were tossed about or broken, paintings slashed and maimed, furniture broken. Books were strewn across the floor, pages torn out. Ink was spilled across the carpet. The desk itself was overturned. Fawkes was gone.

Ginny shook her head disbelievingly. It was impossible. Dumbledore was the greatest mage that had ever lived. He couldn't have been harmed by whoever made this mess. It just wasn't possible, it couldn't be.

Then, as she moved toward the bedroom he had spoken about, Ginny found Dumbledore's half moon glasses on the ground. The frames were bent, the glass ground to powder. Her heart seemed to stop, and she shook her head. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be.

Ginny fainted when she found Dumbledore's head on a spike in the bedroom.

***  
***


	4. Chapter 4

When Ginny came to, she immediately left Dumbledore's office and raced to Professor McGonagall's quarters. She knew that McGonagall was second in authority after Dumbledore, and Ginny hoped that McGonagall would know what to do. The teacher had always seemed so put together and in control, and always seemed to know the right thing to do. Ginny had always looked up to McGonagall after her first year; McGonagall had sat with her after the Chamber incident and merely talked about odd and random things until Ginny had been comfortable with being conscious and alone in her own mind. Only then did McGonagall begin a story about a young girl, alone and different, wishing for a friend of any sort. Ginny slowly realized that the story hadn't been about her, but about a much younger Minerva McGonagall.

"The truest strength of character is learning how to stand up in the face of adversity, my dear," McGonagall had said quietly. "You didn't know how terrible it would be, and you had the purest of intentions. It's not something that reflects badly on you. The only thing that would reflect badly on you is if you let it consume you, if you never learned from your mistakes."

"How do I do that?" Ginny had asked in a quiet, frightened voice.

McGonagall had held onto her hand tightly. "With time, you will learn who you really are, what really matters to you. It's in small steps, small decisions. It's being aware of others, it's knowing what you will and will not allow."

"I feel it still.... like a ghost," Ginny had whispered.

"And perhaps you always will. I don't know," McGonagall had said quietly. Her gaze was unflinching. "But you have a core of strength in you, and it is this that will help you. You need to be careful from now on. But you will have help if you need it. Headmaster Dumbledore is always available to students. I can help. Your family can help. You are never as alone as you think you are, Ginny. Never."

Ginny was counting on that right now.

Minerva McGonagall answered after two minutes' worth of frantic knocking. McGonagall was wrapped in a tartan robe, with the edge of a flannel nightgown peeking out beneath it. She was wearing red and gold slippers, and her glasses were perched at an odd angle at the edge of her nose. She peered at Ginny, tucking her graying hair behind an ear. "Miss Weasley? What's happened? What is it?"

Ginny took in a gulp of air. "I need to talk to you Professor. I don't know where else to go."

McGonagall's face softened. "Come inside. I'll make you a cup of tea."

Ginny could feel some of her panic begin to ease, and she entered McGonagall's rooms. She waited until McGonagall passed her a cup of Earl Grey tea. She took a calming sip, and looked up at her professor's expectant face. "Headmaster Dumbledore is dead."

McGonagall blinked. "Ginny, why would you say such a thing?"

She swallowed down her upset. "I... Ever since first year, when I came back, the Headmaster said I could come talk to him, too. He even told me his room is attached to his office. Or, he has a room there, and I could knock there if it looked like he wasn't in his office." Ginny was aware that her speech was becoming more and more rapid as she became more and more upset, but couldn't help herself. "And I went there tonight, because I wanted to talk. But the office was all a mess, and Fawkes is gone, and the portraits were cut, and I knocked on the Headmaster's door but there wasn't any answer, and when I went inside, I saw..." Ginny stopped and looked at McGonagall's sympathetic face. "He's dead, Professor. His head..."

McGonagall shushed her gently, then covered Ginny's shaking hands with her steady ones. "My dear, what you saw is a protective device."

"What?"

"Someone tried to harm the Headmaster, but he did manage to get away. He had a security spell, something that the attacker could destroy while he escaped. So what you saw was the copy, and the Headmaster is somewhere safe. He owled me two weeks ago."

Ginny sat back in relief. "Oh. Oh, that's so much better then." She gave McGonagall a watery smile. "I was so afraid, Professor. All these other girls getting hurt, Marcus gone home, half the Hufflepuffs leaving school...."

"Marcus? What's this about Marcus?" McGonagall asked, confused. "Do you mean Marcus Bastas from your year?" At Ginny's nod, McGonagall shook her head. "But he was never planning to leave for hols. His parents are in Sweden for the holidays, and there's no one home."

Ginny shook her head. "That can't be right. Alex told me that Marcus took his trunk, left everything a mess. We thought it was a last minute owl."

"When was this? I know nothing about Marcus going home for hols."

"Er... When Hermione was attacked. Marcus had gone out, and the next day he and his belongings were all gone."

McGonagall's lips were pressed into a thin line. "This isn't good news, Ginny. I have to pen a letter to Dumbledore right away." She stood, and gave Ginny an apologetic look. "Please, don't worry yourself about this. We'll take care of it and find out who is responsible."

Ginny looked at McGonagall with frightened eyes. "You think it's Marcus. He's the one hurting all of us with that strange locket of his."

Professor McGonagall's mouth dropped open. "You actually saw him wearing a necklace? Was it gold?" Ginny nodded, eyes wide. "He wasn't supposed to use that time turner for anything but classes," McGonagall muttered, shaking her head. She seemed to be talking more to herself than to Ginny. "This isn't a good sign. This isn't good at all."

"Professor, why would he do something like that?" Ginny asked, her voice small and fragile.

She shook her head sadly. "I don't know. But the Headmaster and I will figure something out. You go back to the dorm and get some sleep. It might be hard, but you really must try. We will take care of this."

Ginny allowed herself to be sent out of McGonagall's room, her mind whirling with the awful possibilities. Marcus Bastas had always been quiet, always been short with the other boys from his year and never seemed to have time for silly things. But even so, did that make him the kind of boy to rape girls? Did that make him the kind of boy to beat them senseless? Something didn't seem right with that explanation. Ginny didn't know what kind of boy Marcus was, if he was even the kind of boy that enjoyed the pain of others. Or was this just another trap, something to make her jump at shadows and miss the truth?

Ginny was drifting off to sleep when she realized that she had forgotten to tell Professor McGonagall about Professor Snape. She would have to do so in the morning.

In her dreams that night, the glyph on the golden locket shimmered, shook and twisted. With it, the very air seemed to change. The stones remained the same, though. The stones always remained the same.

***

 

Hermione sat in front of the Gryffindor common room fire, swathed in three different red and gold blankets. She twisted the edges of the outermost blanket in her hands, her eyes never leaving the leaping flames. She blinked rarely, and it seemed as though she hadn't washed or combed her hair for a few days. Ginny carefully approached the couch Hermione was sitting in, but didn't make any move to sit down just yet.

"I see you," Hermione said, voice dull. "I see you standing there." If voices held colors, hers would be completely slate gray.

Ginny sat down carefully, tucking her feet under her. "You don't seem so good."

"I don't feel so good," Hermione replied flippantly.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Get these thoughts out of my head," Hermione hissed, finally turning to face Ginny. Her expression was one of torturous hatred. "I can't forget, I can't remember, I saw only fragments and I can't get it out of my head."

"I thought you forgot," Ginny gasped. "Like I did, I couldn't remember anything about my attack when I woke up. I thought it was the same for you."

"I remember, I remember, the spires tall and high. I remember, I remember, the hope that passed me by." She laughed then, the sound of it thin and hysterical. "I can't stop reliving the pieces I can remember, and it's choking me, I'm drowning in the shadows in my head."

"You remember," Ginny whispered, horrified.

"Make me forget," Hermione hissed, her voice knife sharp. "Tell me how to forget. I need to forget. Tell me how, tell me now, I need to forget!"

Ginny resisted the urge to shrink back away from Hermione. "I don't know how."

Hermione turned back to the fire, her face settling back into placidity. "I see it, gold on black, floating there. I can't figure out what language it is, I can't figure out what it means. I don't know, I see them all in my head. I keep running through all of the languages, all of the ancient runes, and I can't figure it out. I can't...."

Ginny stood up abruptly. "I'll help you. I'll go look. There has to be something in the library, right? Everything is in the library."

"I can't figure it out," Hermione whispered. "Every known book, every language. Everything common and uncommon, I know it all and it doesn't make sense, I can't figure it out." Her voice was breaking. "I can't figure it out..."

Ginny touched Hermione's shoulder gently, barely pressing on the layers of blanket. Hermione flinched anyway, as if Ginny had struck her hard across the face. "I'll look," Ginny promised. "He didn't break me, I'm not stuck. I'll help you."

Hermione looked up, eyes wide with terror. "Don't let him know," she whispered, her voice frantic with fear. "Don't let him see. He'll know, he'll know and come after you, he'll make sure you never tell, never. Never, never."

"I won't," Ginny promised.

"Never," Hermione whispered, grabbing her hand in a viselike grip. Ginny could feel Hermione's nails dig into her skin. "Never tell. You can't. Never tell. You can't tell, you can't figure it out. You can't. You can't."

Ginny pulled her hand away, trying to keep her composure. She didn't want anyone knowing how bad off Hermione was. "I won't. I won't, I promise."

"Never tell," Hermione whispered, lapsing into her listless stare again. She was fixated on the fire, on the glittering dance of the flames. They almost seemed to comfort her, though her hands were worrying the same hem of the same blanket. "Never," she whispered. "No gold, no sense, no pretty little words to tell the darkness away." Ginny was entranced by the sight of Hermione slipping back into despair. "Nothing left."

Ginny wordlessly slipped from the common room, heading for the library. It all started there; it only made sense for it to end there.

***

 

Ginny crept into the library. It was all but deserted; students usually didn't want to study on their holidays, though there always was a handful of students clustered together working on some last minute project. Or, if they were Ravenclaw, on extra credit projects the rest of the school often didn't work on. She kept to the edges of the library, away from the open study areas. She didn't want anyone seeing her here, didn't want to answer questions.

She remembered the glyph. Black on gold, floating in darkness before the stones had rushed up at her face. She could vaguely feel the press of fingers into her wrists if she concentrated, but it didn't seem to bring up the horror that Hermione was suffering.

Ginny ducked into the area of the library devoted to runic study. Amazingly enough, there were no Ravenclaws here, and the dust was thick in the air. She closed her eyes and tried to see where the feel of magic would lead her.

It was silent here, no pull of knowledge anywhere.

Ginny frowned, and grabbed a book at random. She paged through it, not recognizing anything on the pages in front of her. Nothing looked even remotely similar. Oh, the form of it was simple enough, but for some reason even possibly similar glyphs were obviously not the same one she was looking for. It was apparently not a common language. She had never seen a Time Turner, and could only assume that she and Professor McGonagall were talking about the same thing. In frustration, Ginny pushed the book back onto the shelf from which she took it from. She didn't know where to start looking into information about Time Turners, and didn't think Professor McGonagall would want to tell her.

She crept out of the runes section and headed for the main circulation desk. Madam Pince was at her desk, copying something diligently onto a piece of parchment. Ginny waited until Madam Pince was done and looked up at her. "I wanted to do a research paper on Time Turners."

"History or mechanics?" Madam Pince asked, her voice sounding more like the rustling of thin papers. Ginny suppressed a shiver.

"I'm not sure yet."

"History is in Magical Objects under T. Mechanics is under Magical Theory."

"Thank you," Ginny murmured as Madam Pince turned back to her books. It appeared as though she were cataloguing them.

Ginny moved to Magical Objects and wandered down the shelves until she found the T section toward the end. There were over a dozen books about Time Turners, apparently, and she pulled one of them off of the shelves. She opened up the dusty book and sneezed at the cloud of dust that wafted up. She wrinkled her nose and then peered down at the page.

The Time Turner was a golden hourglass surrounded by rings. It wasn't a locket at all.

Ginny shut the book. This couldn't be right. Two different objects, two different lockets. It might even be two different people.

She shoved the book back onto the shelf and raced to McGonagall's office.

Unfortunately, there was a note posted to her door. She would be away for three days on official business. Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra were in charge while she was away.

Ginny wanted to sink down to the floor. _No, this isn't right,_ she thought. _We've made a terrible mistake..._

***

 

"Can you talk to Hermione?" Ron asked Ginny desperately. "I don't know how to fix this, I don't know what to do."

Ginny sighed and shook her head at her brother. They were in a corner of the Common Room, looking over at Hermione. She remained huddled by the fire beneath three Gryffindor blankets, eyes fixed on the fire and unseeing of all else. "There's nothing I can do about it. I tried talking to her today, but it's all wrong somehow."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't remember what happened to me, really. But she remembers, and it's eating away at her. I don't know what I can do to help."

Ron made an anguished sound, and it hurt Ginny to hear it. "I'm bleeding inside, Gin. I don't know how to help."

Ginny hugged her brother tight. "I wish I had a Time Turner, to turn everything back and erase all this pain."

"That boy your year, the quiet one. He has one, I've seen it. Why don't you ask him?"

Ginny pulled back. "Marcus? But he's left for home already."

Ron looked surprised. "Oh? I thought he was supposed to stay?"

She shook her head. "Alex told me all of his stuff is gone."

Ron looked deep in thought, then looked up. "You think he took his Time Turner with him?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Just hoping, I guess."

"We'll figure something out," Ginny said softly. "I just wish I knew what."

"Hermione is the smart one," Ron said, voice hollow and dead. "She's the ones with the brains, always in the Restricted Section for one project or other. She said all the regular ordinary books weren't good enough, you couldn't know enough."

_I keep running through all of the languages, all of the ancient runes, and I can't figure it out,_ Hermione had said. She would have gone through every book in the ordinary stacks for her Ancient Runes class. She would have known everything there is to know. But the Restricted Section held books too dangerous and too specific for the ordinary student. Hermione wouldn't have had a chance to go through those books yet.

Ginny needed to go back to the library.

***

 

All Ginny had needed to do was mention to Flitwick that she was thinking of researching charms to help regain her memory in his class. He had been enthusiastic, and had suggested memory charms or floating charms. He had cheerfully written her a pass to the Restricted Section and waved her on her way. Ginny felt bad about lying, but it was for a good cause.

The pull of magic within the Restricted Section was undeniable. Its entrance wasn't so far away from the old nook she had shared with Draco, but she couldn't bear to look at it now. _Oh Draco, where are you? What did they do to you?_

Ginny walked though the aisles in the Restricted Section. She had felt power emanate from the dusty aisles, from the oldest and dustiest books. Some books seemed to sing out to her, promising her whatever she wanted to know, and she knew better than to touch any of them. The books in the back of the Restricted Section were the dangerous ones, and for now Ginny wanted to avoid those. She should be able to find out about Time Turners or runes or strange spells well enough without them. There were books about all kinds of magic in the Restricted section. There were books that belonged to Merlin, to the Endless, to various gods and goddesses long dead. Some books were known to drive men mad. Ginny knew this, and could feel the pull of them along the back of her spine. The rush of power in the room was tangible, tasting like old crumbling paper and faded ink. Ginny knew the taste of this very well, and had struggled for years to master her fear of it. _Tom can't hurt me. His memory is just that, just a memory, and books can't hurt me anymore._ Still, she knew better than to touch a strange book that seemed to speak straight to her mind, or books with no writing on their covers, the books that seemed to scream at her to pick them up.

Ginny knew better. But did this monster stalking the halls of Hogwarts?

Ginny pulled out books on runes and brought them to the carrel at the end of the aisle within the Restricted Section. The spines of books in the Restricted Section were charmed so that they could never be taken out of the room, much less stolen. But that was all right. Ginny just needed to read them, and she had plenty of parchment and ink with her to take notes.

_What if the monster had ripped out the pages?_ Ginny thought suddenly, staring down at the book she was holding. It was possible. No one would ever know, since so few people actually even used the Restricted Section. He didn't need the cover, didn't need the spine. He just needed the pages, after all. The book would give him whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, and all he needed were the pages.

Ginny could feel a lick of fear travel down her spine. She looked down at the book in her hand, Ancient Magickal Runes, the letters nearly faded completely off of the leather cover. She opened it and sat down at the small desk. She flipped through the pages quickly, looking at the sketches of runes and spells, the different colored inks pulling at her attention. She had to find it somewhere, it had to be here. The Restricted Section had everything lost, mystical and powerful; it was only a matter of diligence and time.

This book came up empty, but there were easily another dozen books on ancient runes on the shelves. Ginny got up to get another one down from the shelves when she heard a distinct voice touch her mind.

_Your wanting is thick and beautiful, you can belong to me, too..._

Too?

"Who are you?" Ginny whispered into the silent and dusty room. She felt vaguely silly and vaguely scared. She knew the power in books. She _knew._

_I can help you child... I am the Book of Knowledge. Tell me what you seek._

Ginny turned her head toward the sound of the voice in her head. There was a large book tucked away in the corner, thick and covered in black leather. She lifted it from the shelf and nearly staggered under its weight. A subvocalized _Wingardium leviosa_ helped her bring the book back to the small desk.

"I'm looking for a glyph. I saw it on a locket."

_Show me with your mind, child._

Ginny shut her eyes tight and pictured the locket from her dreams. It was gold, dangling from a thick chain. The glyph was on its front, black and stylized against the gold.

The Book of Knowledge hissed in pain. _My desecrated sibling!_

"What?"

_One of your companions had come for a project... He ripped my sister-book to shreds, absorbing them all._

Ginny leaned back in her chair. "I don't understand."

_Each of the Endless and the gods and goddesses that exist do so because of belief and memory and faith. Each of them have books written on their behalf. Each of them has a sacred text to collect their words and stories and advice. I am the Book of Knowledge, I am the sum of tales all told, I am the sum of everything. I am the Book of the Ancient Elder Gods, the one that collected the words of all the races. I collect their tales, and I know all the stories._

"That's why you said you could help me. You would've heard of it before."

_Yes. But what you have shown me was the symbol of a now-fallen book. One of your companions had been searching for project books._

"When?" Ginny interrupted desperately. "When?"

_But he had desires,_ the book continued. _He had needs. And he took the Book of Desire, he ripped it to shreds and absorbed its contents into himself. He was told to take only a few. Even a few pages are much too powerful._

Ginny paused, almost frightened. "Who was he?"

_I have no names._

"If I... If I took one of _your_ pages... would I become smarter? Would I be able to find him and catch him?"

_No!_ the book hissed, its voice frightened. _Don't take anything from me!_

"But if you willingly gave me a sheet?" Ginny asked, desperate. "I'll only take what you give. He's attacked six people now, maybe seven. Please... I need help. I'm not smart enough to do this on my own."

There was a petulant silence from the book. Ginny looked at it, worried. She ought to know better, really. She ought to know better than to accept anything from strange books that talked without mouths, that knew more than she did.

She leaned against the book, folding her arms over it and putting her head down over her arms. It was too much to hope for. She wasn't the smart one; that was Hermione, and she was a gibbering mess in the common room. She wasn't the good one, rescuing everybody; that was Harry, and he didn't know anything. All she had was herself, and it was woefully inadequate to this task. It made her want to cry, and she wasn't a crier.

_I can't do this,_ she thought. _I can't, I don't know what to do..._

The book seemed to sigh into her mind. _I do,_ it told her sadly. _I am the Book of Knowledge, after all. I will be able to help you._

Ginny picked her head up and sniffled. "You will?"

_Open my cover, take off the top sheet._ Just_ the top sheet._

Ginny opened the cover and did as she was told. She took the first page she saw, and it fell away from the binding easily. She stared at the blank page, not knowing what to do with it next. It was the first time a strange sentient book was going to help her without hurting her.

_Press it to your chest,_ the book said gently. _It may hurt. Knowledge always does._

Ginny hugged the piece of paper to her chest. She could feel the magic rising all around her, the wails and screams of the other books in warning. _Don't do this!_ they cried, panicked and afraid for her. _It's not worth it!_

And then the pain began, and her mind began to scream.

***  
***


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness is descending on the land, and Hogwarts is seen as its last bastion of hope. But what happens if the shadows are starting to move between the stones themselves?

Professor Flitwick beamed at Ginny as she handed in a five foot essay on memory charms. "You seem to be a bit more put together," he said gently, "a bit less lost."

"I don't feel lost," Ginny replied easily. She smiled at him, and he didn't notice that it never quite reached her eyes.

"I'm glad to hear it, my dear," Professor Flitwick said. "The Headmaster was quite adamant about keeping the students in the school. Believe it or not, it's actually much safer here. Many of our Muggleborn students no longer have homes to go to. In any case," he added conspiratorily, "it's such a shame… Some of the students that went home for hols won't be returning."

"They're dead?" Ginny asked, frowning.

Flitwick nodded sadly. "The poor children. They always suffer so in a war…"

Ginny left, heading back to the library. She had woken a few hours earlier on the floor of the Restricted Section. There was a five foot essay already written on the desk above the Book of Knowledge. Ginny had gently set it back on its shelf. "Thank you."

_Don't thank me yet, child. Knowledge is a terrible burden to bear._

Ginny touched the spine of the ravaged Book of Desire. There was barely a hint of magic left in it, and certainly not enough of its spirit to identify its assailant. The symbol on its cover was the same glyph from the golden locket. The attacker was one and the same, someone who desired too much and didn't care about the desires of others. It stereotypically would have been Slytherin, but Ginny knew better than that. Draco cared about her, had waited for her to be comfortable with him. He had completely overturned her preconceptions.

Ginny took the Book of Desire off the shelf and opened it. There were ragged edges throughout the spine. She touched them, feeling the edge of magic in them.

And then there was a flash of red and gold.

Ginny's eyes narrowed as she replaced the book on the shelf. Gryffindor.

Now Ginny was returning to the library. She had been on her way there when her memory ended. She was originally headed for the nook she shared with Draco, she knew that. But Ginny didn't know if she ever made it there, if she had even set foot into the library at all. There had never been any sign of her in the library when Ron and Harry and Hermione first checked, but they hadn't known where to look. Not even Hermione could find the little nook if she didn't know it was there, if she didn't need a hiding place away from everyone else. And Ron and Harry tended to be oblivious about anything but the most obvious. Neither of them would have known what to look for, and would have wanted to leave the library quickly. Only Hermione would have probably repeatedly gone back to look for clues. And there had to have been something, else the attacker would have left her alone.

But she had been outside the library on patrol that night, and she had seen something the attacker didn't know she had seen.

Ginny took a few deep breaths as she entered the library. _There is no block. There is no damage. I know my mind, I know my memory. I have mastery over myself. This is my mind, my memory, my past. I own it, I own it all._

And then her memory unfolded before her.

Ginny raced into the library and headed straight to the rear, to their little room. She had pretty much ignored the possibility of others being there; it was just after dinner and just before the beginning of hols. Other than a few scattered Ravenclaws who wouldn't have noticed her, there shouldn't have been anyone there of import anyway. Ginny knew that Draco would either be waiting for her or would arrive soon after.

Draco was already there, pacing nervously. His face lit up, and he gathered her up in his arms to kiss her. "It's been an absolutely dreadful day. I kept thinking of you, and that's what made it all bearable."

Ginny touched his face gently. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. I don't know why. I hardly ate anything at dinner."

They kissed, hands roaming over each other. Draco broke the kiss off after a moment. "You feel thinner. Have you been eating at all in the past week?"

"Not as much," Ginny confessed with a shrug. "I've been so nervous." She tried to flash him a nonchalant grin. "What do you care, anyway?"

"I... I _care,"_ Draco murmured. "Merlin help me, but I do." He took her earlobe between his teeth and gently tugged. His tongue flicked out, tracing the edge of her earlobe, then he moved down to her neck. She leaned into his touch. It gratified him to feel her arms around him, holding him tight. He pulled on the pins holding her bun up, and her hair came spilling down around them. Her arms tightened around his back, keeping him pressed tightly against her.

"I do, too," Ginny whispered. "A lot."

"I'm thinking I'm pretty lucky to have found you," Draco murmured, moving to kiss Ginny on her mouth. She quickly undid his belt and pants, then moved her hand over his cock in reply, stroking gently. His breath caught, and then he kissed her fiercely.

"Are you sure?" he asked, voice strained. "I want to…. _Merlin,_ I want to. But only if you're sure…"

"I'm sure."

Ginny helped him take his clothes off. "I want to _see_ you," she whispered fiercely. "I need to."

He simply groaned and helped, then stripped her down to the skin as well. "Only fair," he said with a smirk when she grinned at him.

Ginny looked from Draco's erection to his anxious face. She could do this. She wanted to, dammit! She wanted more than her own fingers late at night in bed as she dreamed of him. She wanted _him,_ damn the consequences.

She grinned at him, and then bent her head down over his bare body. Draco was very still, as if he didn't want to startle her. She ran her tongue along the length of his cock, tasting the precome. She ran her lips around the ridges beneath the edge of the head, then the slit at its very tip. Draco couldn't do much more than make an incoherent moan. Mmm... That was very interesting. Ginny liked the sound of that, actually. Smiling at his cock, she took him into her mouth and began to bob up and down. His cock slid along her tongue, then into her cheeks, then in the hollow beneath her tongue. She moved in time to his moans, taking them into herself, then swallowing down his come when it spurted into her mouth.

Draco sighed and leaned back against the table. Ginny draped herself over his chest, grinning. "That was wonderful," he murmured with a sigh, stroking her hair. "I never thought it would be like that."

"Really?" She pressed a kiss against his cheek.

"Petrificalus Totalis!" a voice called out from the doorway to their nook.

Stunned, Ginny and Draco were frozen in place. _Someone caught us!_ was Ginny's first thought. Then she realized that Madam Pince would never have done that. So it had to be someone else. Since there was no yelling, it couldn't be Ron either. It had to be her attacker.

Neville Longbottom gave Draco a wicked kick to the ribs, and there was a snapping sound. "You can't take her from me, snake," Neville hissed. His eyes were black, and the locket hung from his neck. "I'm better than you, I care more than you. I'm no Death Eater." His face was twisted into a vicious snarl. "I deserve her, not you!"

He grasped Ginny, enveloping her in a shroud of darkness. It was as cold as ice, and broke the spell. She fought, but he fought her harder, with all the strength the locket possessed.

_But where did he take Draco?_ she wondered, snapping back to the present. Their things were still in the alcove, just as she remembered. Nothing was out of place.

There was a small brown stain on the floor, just where Draco had been lying.

Ginny touched it, feeling for its source. She couldn't feel any life in it, and Ginny thought her heart was breaking. _He's dead, he's dead. Neville killed him…_

She took a deep breath. Now she just had to trap him.

***

 

Ginny swallowed her rage and smiled at Neville. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

He looked up, his face glowing with happiness. He shut the book he was reading and stood up. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Is there a room you go to when you need to be alone? When you need to think and you don't want to see anyone else around?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "So no one can _hear_ anything or see anything?"

Ginny could see the puzzle pieces slide into place. His grin sickened her, and she swallowed down the bile rising when he touched her arm. "I know just the place."

_Of course you do. Of course,_ Ginny thought acidly. "Take me there?"

There was a shadow behind his gaze, something that rattled her calm exterior. But she smiled at him, almost nervously, and Neville saw exactly what he wanted to see. He led her out of the Gryffindor common room, and through a twisting maze of corridors. They wound up in an empty hallway not that far from the library. Neville murmured the password, and they slid inside the room without a sound. The feeling was unnerving.

He kissed her suddenly, his hands moving to fondle her breasts. Ginny stiffened for a moment, almost involuntarily, and Neville stopped abruptly. "I thought you wanted this," he said, his voice accusing. Ginny looked down at the floor. There was the feeling of magic in the room, a powerful magic that was hiding something.

"I... Sometimes I feel the memory of my attacker... I don't... It's not that I don't want to..." Ginny stammered, nervous. She couldn't let him suspect, not now. But it galled her to have him touch her, to have his lips against hers.

He smiled gently and caressed her face. "I'll go slow, then. We've got all the time in the world, Ginny, and I want this to be right."

Her spine crawled at his words. She didn't want to comprehend the meaning behind them, but it was too obvious what he wanted from her. She backed up half a step, standing very still for a moment. Then she began to unbutton her blouse, starting from the bottom. When her belly was bared, she could hear Neville's breath catch. _It would, you pervert,_ she thought, her fingers shaking on the buttons. Let him think she was nervous. Let him think she wanted him that badly. Let him think whatever he wanted to think. She was peering through her hair to look at the room more closely. Something had to be the source of the magic she felt, and that something had to be where he had hidden Draco's body.

"Ginny," Neville whispered, his voice nearly breaking. He was reaching for her, and she took a step back. She fetched up against a chest of some sort, though when she turned around, she couldn't see what she had barked her calves against.

"What's going on in here, Neville?" she asked, voice only slightly tremulous. Had she found the hiding spot?

He smiled at her, and it looked like shark's teeth. "It's nothing you need to worry about. We're going to be okay now. It's going to be all right. I've fixed everything. You don't have to worry anymore, you don't have to pretend."

"What?"

"He was threatening you, I understand. You had to pretend. It's all right. It's over now, I'm here to protect you now." He reached out for her, his hands touching the bared skin of her stomach. "I'm here for you, Ginny. I'm here."

"What's going on, Neville?" Ginny asked. She _knew_ what he was talking about. It was just a question of how to get out of the room without having him touch her again that worried her. It was starting to look as though she would have to shag the blighter just to get back to the Gryffindor common room, and the thought made her nauseous.

He smiled at her, his head cocked to the side. "Didn't you ever wonder where that ferret had gone to? Didn't you wonder why he stopped leaving you alone?"

"Oh Neville..." Ginny shook her head slightly as she tried to sidestep him. In the half light, she saw something gold glint at the collar of his shirt. It looked almost like a gold chain.

He was smiling at her, his eyes glassy with want. "I did everything for you, Ginny. We can be together now. You can want me back now."

Ginny let him hold her and let his hands roam to caress her breasts. His touch was rough and awkward, but she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She tentatively touched his face, her hand running down to his neck. She could feel the bump of a chain just beneath the edge of his shirt. "Neville..."

"I love you, Ginny. I'd do anything for you."

Ginny's fingers closed around the chain at his neck. "Good," she murmured, pulling back and away from him. She yanked sharply on the chain and heard the sound of it breaking. She skipped back a few steps, the golden chain in hand. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Gin? What's..." His eyes narrowed when he saw the chain in her hand. "Give that back."

Ginny threw it down to the stone floor with all of her might, speaking the simple Ancient phrase for "destroy." Neville screamed and lunged for the chain and the charms on it.

Charms?

Ginny backed up a few more steps and stared in horror at the golden chain on the floor. The Book of Desire's amulet was shattered across the stones, but so was a tiny golden Time Turner. He had put both charms on the chain, hiding it beneath his shirt. If the Time Turner was broken, how could she go back to save Draco?

Neville was wailing, the broken edges of gold cutting his fingers. His words were incoherent, and there was a pale mist surrounding him. It seemed to rise from the Amulet of Desire as well as the Time Turner. Both of them were destroyed, and it took a moment for Ginny to realize what had happened when she had uttered her spell.

He had fused part of his soul with the Amulet of Desire. Destroying the amulet had destroyed a part of him as well, and the Time Turner's destruction had created an unstable vortex around Neville. It was unraveling whatever was left of Neville's soul, taking large pieces of his mind along with it. Ginny watched in horror as Neville looked at her. His skin was ashen and his eyes were empty. He looked almost dead, and it hadn't been her intention at all.

She plunged her hands into the vortex and hauled him out of it. She dragged him all the way to the library, where the air seemed clearer. The feel of magic no longer haunted her, and Ginny quickly buttoned up her blouse again. Neville still looked almost grey, and his breathing was shallow and rapid. What had she done?

Ginny looked around in a panic. If only she had taken more than one sheet of the Book of Knowledge. A little knowledge was a dangerous thing, since it had left her more confident than she should have been. She could make out a few people in the library, but they wouldn't be able to help her. She didn't know how to reverse the effects of the Time Turner. She turned away from the library door and realized that one of the people in the library was Luna. As eccentric as she was, Luna was brilliant and wouldn't ask questions. Perfect.

Ginny ran into the library and hastily pulled out the chair next to Luna's. The other girl didn't even look up. "I need your help," Ginny whispered desperately. "I've done something and I don't know how to fix it."

"And how could I help you?"

Ginny didn't understand how Luna could be so unperturbed. "Do you know how to undo the effects of a broken Time Turner?"

The blonde's watery gaze suddenly sharpened. "What happened? What did it do? No one's broken one in recent memory. The last time was Delhan Dagio in 1223, and it aged him a thousand years in a thousand seconds. That's not what you've done is it?" Luna peered at Ginny with a critical eye. "You don't look a thousand years old."

"It's not me that's affected. I broke it, and then someone else stepped into the vortex."

"Oh..." Luna chewed on her lip and watched Ginny shift about in her seat. "Can I write about it for the Quibbler?"

"Luna, you can do whatever you want for whatever paper you want. I trust you."

The girl blinked owlishly. "Wow. All right then, let's go."

Ginny stopped when Luna walked away from the table, all of her books and papers still strewn about. "Your things..."

"No one likes my quills for some reason. They don't like ink on their fingers."

Luna walked outside the library and stopped abruptly when she saw Neville on the floor. Ginny couldn't remember how she had even managed to drag him that far at that point, but somehow she had done it. Luna knelt down beside Neville and touched his face gently. "He's in shock," she whispered. "I don't think it's permanent, but it was definitely traumatic." She looked up at Ginny curiously. "How did it break?"

"I threw it to the floor."

Luna's tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. "Well, I can help him, I think. It will take some time. I know just the place, too. You know the loo on this floor, the one with Moaning Myrtle? Hardly anyone uses that loo. I can work in there."

Ginny pushed away thoughts of that bathroom and smiled at Luna. "Thank you so much, Luna. I don't know what I could've done without you."

"Well, nothing, really," Luna replied earnestly. "Magical trauma is very tricky, and it must be handled delicately. I don't know if you have any wormwort, teague or ghast, but those are very necessary for the treatment."

"I have no idea what those are," Ginny said honestly.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here to help," Luna said brightly. "I have all those things. I don't know if it'll fix him completely. I should at least be able to save his life. I don't know about his memory, though. That's usually harder to fix." She reached under her shirt and pulled out a gold Time Turner. "I'll just pick them up before they spoil."

Ginny eyed the tiny golden trinket. "I didn't know you had a Time Turner."

"Oh, we're not supposed to talk about it," she said cheerfully. "But it helps with all of the studying and the extra classes I've been taking."

"Luna? Could I borrow that for a moment? I'll give it right back."

"But I need to get those roots to save Neville..."

"I have something else I'll need to fix, too. And it'll help save Neville, I promise."

"Oh. All right, then," Luna said with a nod. She pulled the chain off of her neck and handed it to Ginny. "Do you know how to use one? Let me show you."

After the quick tutorial from Luna, Ginny turned the rings and watched as time sped backward around her. She raced to Neville's private room and repeated the password. She slid into the room in that same disconcerting manner. It was still dark, but it was easy to see where the invisible chest had been before. The chest was visible now, and Ginny yanked open the top. Draco was inside of it, pale and thin and barely breathing. His eyes widened at the sight of her. "Gin? He didn't hurt you, too?"

Her gaze softened. "Come on, Draco. Let's get you out of here."

He saw the Time Turner around her neck and his gaze narrowed. "He did, didn't he?"

"Shush, come on, let's hurry. I don't know where he is now, and I want to get you out of here as quickly as possible."

"You can't change the past, Ginny," he said, voice hoarse. He must have screamed for hours before she came. "You can't..."

Ginny had been hoping to save Hermione from her torturous memory. "It wasn't just me that he went after, Draco."

"He told me," Draco replied. He touched her face, much as Neville had not too long before. His touch didn't repulse her, and Ginny leaned into it. "I'd say even that friend of yours didn't deserve something like that."

_Too late,_ Ginny thought to herself, disappointed. And at least he had refrained from calling Hermione a Mudblood within her presence. "Come on. Let's just go. We'll hide somewhere so he won't be able to hurt you anymore."

Draco leered at her, but the effort was draining. "I can think of something to do while we're stuck with each other."

Ginny laughed with relief. "Later. All you like, however you like, but later, when you're well."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good, because I don't think I can live up to the rumors just yet."

She kissed his cheek. "They're not why I'm with you."

"I wondered about that."

Ginny held him tightly, breathing in the scent of him. Gods, it had been so long, and he felt so good. He was alive, wonderfully alive, and she could at least save him from his fate. She led him to the infirmary, and Poppy Pomfrey accepted Draco's tales of memory loss. Madam Pomfrey agreed to hide him in the infirmary until he became well so that no one would try to attack him again. Ginny gave him a lingering kiss and smoothed the hair from his forehead. "I'll come for you when you're well. I promise."

He smiled at her and caught her hands in his. "I'll hold you to it."

Ginny raced back to the library and spun the rings of the Time Turner forward. When things stopped moving, she was standing in front of Luna again. Ginny gratefully handed over the Time Turner. "Thank you so much, Luna. You don't know much this means to me."

Luna gave Ginny a distant smile. "Oh, I can imagine." She traced the edge of Neville's cheek with a fingertip. Her lips curved into a soft, sad smile. "Sometimes you don't realize how important some things are until you've almost lost them."

"Maybe he can care for you back," Ginny murmured.

Luna looked up, a flare of hope in her eyes. "Maybe. Sometimes it takes a long while to recover from trauma like this. We can get to know each other better."

Ginny helped Luna drag Neville into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and left the girl to take care of his unconscious form. Hopefully his reckless desire for Ginny would be forever lost. Luna deserved to be happy, and if Neville had never absorbed the Book of Desire, he never would have changed so drastically.

Ginny raced to the infirmary. She stopped short in front of Draco's hospital bed. He looked so much better already. His cheeks were fuller and less sunken, and his hair had regained some of its prior shine. His ribs were healed now, and the mottled bruises were all gone. He was sleeping soundly, his mouth slightly parted.

Ginny smiled at him, and pushed the hair away from his forehead. "I promised," she murmured. He didn't stir, since he was that deeply asleep.

Carefully, Ginny climbed into the bed beside him. This was one soul she had managed to save. In the morning she would find out from Luna how badly Neville's was damaged. Perhaps she could talk to Hermione in the morning and help her begin to heal. It would be a difficult road for all of them, but it could work. She had managed to swallow down her fears and deal with them in order to find Draco's resting place. She had managed to even save Draco. The Headmaster was safe and hopefully on his way back to the castle.

She could survive the rest of hols. They all could.

Lulled to sleep by the sound of Draco's heartbeat, Ginny slept. She could start erasing the shadows between the walls in the morning.

 

The End.


End file.
